MUSIC

[Dragonskull]

Seriously, every good forum has a thread about music. We should totally have one, so here it is. Personally I think music-taste tells a lot about a person.

Some of you might already know, I'm a metalhead so to speak. I'm quite on the edge considering the origin of the term though. I listen to mostly heavy metal, nu metal, goth metal and black/death (never quite caught the difference) metal. Though there are always exceptions!

Anyway, in order to make sure this ain't one of those threads where everyone music-interested post once and then you're done, I think we should keep updating with music you've recently heard or just plain old discussion about bands and gigs/festivals. YouTube offers a great source to showing what you like to others.. although the sound quality could be a lot better I don't blame them.

Well then, I suppose I'll start!
I just started listening to Arch Enemy a week or two back- well I've heard of them before, but never really listened through any tracks. Then I stumbled upon this clip while I was actually checking out a band a friend of mine thought I'd like, Deathstars, which is also pretty good! So here's one of both:

Arch Enemy - My Apocalypse

Deathstars - Blitzkrieg

[TerranUp16]

Chimaira- Pure Hatred

Pretty much, Chimaira /thread

Hmk, and Satyricon- KING

Satyricon has recently managed to take my #2 slot thanks to my having finally purchased Volcano, Now, Diabolical, and The Age of Nero, all three of which are excellent CD's. And seeing them live with Cradle of Filth didn't hurt either. Imo, they completely upstaged Cradle of Filth as their play and stage presence was excellent despite that on CD the band is only Satyr and Frost and they need to fill-out two guitarists, a bassist, and a keyboardist for shows. Of course, Satyr does pretty much everything except for drums and back-up vocals (which Frost does) on the albums so he is perfectly capable of picking-up a guitar and playing... and at one point in the concert for about three songs he actually did... and there were three guitars on-stage at once. Was complete win and one of the best performances I have ever seen and supposedly they'll be coming back and headlining later this year, so can't wait to see that.

Chimaira I have seen three times now and they've been excellent every time. And musically... they are just such an awesome mix of technical complexity and energy injection that just nothing else quite compares.

God Forbid, Pro-Pain, Arch Enemy, All That Remains (even the new album... took forever but it's finally grown on me), Machine Head, Hatebreed, Hammerfall, etc... all fall somewhere behind Chimaira and Satyricon for me. On any given day, one of those or another could be #3, xD Mega points to God Forbid at the moment though for Earthsblood. If Chimaira's The Infection isn't album of the year then I certainly hope that God Forbid's Earthsblood is.

[Dragonskull]

Ah, Chimaira out with a new album and I haven't noticed? Damn music stores in Norway really need to keep up with metal, I was browsing for some new CDs only yesterday (finally got around to buying 'Gojira's The Way of All Flesh').

Anyhow, Satyricon is great indeed. As for them being only two- well on the albums they mostly are, but they don't consider Satyricon a two-man band. It's pretty much the same line-up for every concert. Regretfully I've never had the opportunity to see them live - even though they're Norwegian and play quite a lot of concerts here. 'Now, Diabolical' being my favourite out of their albums, though the new one is pretty awesome as well- can't say I like Satyr's new look though.

Satyricon - Black Crow on a Tombstone

I'm seeing All That Remains in three weeks at the Hovefestival, together with Disturbed (well the day after that is) and a few other good metal bands.

[TerranUp16]

Satyr looks like Dracula incarnate and that's fine with me, xD

But yeah, Chimaira's The Infection is awesome. I didn't know what to expect from it 'cause Resurrection is my least favorite effort from them (which is to say it's like my tenth favorite album out of all my alums or something, lol, so Chimaira's worst is...) and that was their last album. But I heard Chimaira sing "Secrets of the Dead" and "Destroy and Dominate" live and I enjoyed both immensely. So I picked-up the CD as quickly as I could and this is... I haven't decided yet. The Infection is either on par with or better than their self-titled album. What both albums have in common is that they are both consistent. While "Nothing Remains" and "Salvation" are slight stand-outs off their self-titled album, the variance in quality between the best and worst songs on the CD is miniscule. That holds for The Infection, with "Secrets of the Dead" and "Destroy and Dominate" being my favorites by the smallest of margins. Every song is excellent and the whole album is just win all the way through.

For reference though, The Impossibility of Reason is my favorite Chimaira album primarily because of the sheer amount of win of "Power Trip", "Down Again", "Pure Hatred", and "The Dehumanizing Process" all in a row (and those are probably my four favorite Chimaira songs, period, as well), but their self-titled album and The Infection are almost as good but far more consistent in their quality (Impossibility of Reason is fairly consistent as well but not quite as much so as the self-titled and The Infection).

And for Satyricon, yeah they do stick together on tour but for actually developing the songs and such, it's all Satyr and Frost, so there isn't any assurance that because it's good on CD it will be just as good live (of course that means nothing as Cradle of Filth... ugh to them live but on CD they are awesome), so I was a tad trepidatious but they cleansed that from me with their excellent performance.

[Dragonskull]

Aye, I think (based on merely comments by friends and YouTube clips) Satyricon in general sounds better on stage, as the albums tend to tip in the direction of sampling, some riffs and parts seem to be samples on repeat, which annoys me a bit- but then I just attempt to focus on the drums and it's all good.

[Cokemonkey11]

Across the Snows by Kiuas
The Beautiful Mistake by As Blood Runs Black
The Shining by Black Sabbath

[~VanMavus]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJcTNYuTsxA&feature=fvst

[Dragonskull]

Oh my god, the classic example of Opera.. oh well, someone has got to like that too...


As for Chimaira's new album; the #1 Music store in Norway still list 'Resurrection' as news.. so I'm not building up much hope yet.

Sirenia - The Other Side

Godsmack - Bass Solo & Jam (Live Unplugged)
Damn, Robbie Merrill sure can play bass.

[~VanMavus]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LtU3vUOa2sw
Is something not Opera but nice aswell .

[Dragonskull]

Well, I finally got myself a copy of Chimaira's The Infection, and I've got to agree that this album is great- both as music to just listen to (given your equipment got some quality- I've got world class equipment from Lector, and you really sort out good recordings from bad ones with that), while walking in the city, in the car or as background music playing games, drawing or writing code.. splendid!

[TerranUp16]

Nice though I've never particularly considered it to be background music, xD

[Dragonskull]

Well, as long as you're not purely listening to the music, it's background music. I surround myself with music almost permanently, and most of it is just 'in the background' .. it's much less often that I just sit down in a sofa, or in a good chair, and listen only to the music - got no time for that really. Multi-tasking ftw?

[TerranUp16]

Do it all the time when I'm in my car, lol. Haven't listened to All That Remains' This Darkened Heart CD in forever... I mean, I've listened to the songs on my PC media player's shuffle and such, but imo there is something decidedly different about hearing an album, song by song, and just hearing a song off an album randomly. But holy crap, I mean I *know* that it's All That Remains' best CD by far and they are still one of my favorite bands for sure... but that album is just win-tacular. "Vicious Betrayal" is still the best metalcore song of all time with "Focus Shall Not Fail" right behind it.

But the whole album, right from the beginning, just an awesome double whammy of amazing guitar work and the best metalcore vocals around. Heavy and fast, but not for the sake of it.

[Dragonskull]

Saw All That Remains live @HOVE this summer, they were great.. totally better than the headliner that followed; Slipknot.

Oh, and I met some Australian guys down town today, promoting their "new" album themselves 'cause they ain't got a record company - respect to that - they play alternative metal though, so not completely my taste- kind of felt generous though, and for alternative metal it was fair enough, so I bought the album- there was no set price so I just paid what I felt like. They're called A Sound Mind, you can hear some tracks @ their MySpace : myspace.com/asoundmind

[TerranUp16]

Will check that out after hockey I do suppose. I saw All That Remains w/Chimaira (ATR was headlining oddly enough) over a year ago at the House of Blues- their drummer broke his drums about three times so Phil Labonte had to tell jokes for quite awhile on-stage (including a fan joke that was a particular zinger- "What do Michael Jackson and All That Remains have in common? They're both not playing tonight!"- this was back when MJ was still alive). The performance was still good but it was only a little after they made some major line-up changes with their bassist and such so they were still learning most of the songs so they played pretty much exclusively The Fall of Ideals songs and "And Death in My Arms" was the only selection off This Darkened Heart (was really sad to not hear "Vicious Betrayal").

One of the better performances I've seen and they managed to follow-up Chimaira relatively well which is a feat all to its own (Lacuna Coil failed horribly at that; Dethklok are the only other band I've seen that has had to follow-up Chimaira and Dethklok also did an admirable job) though more from This Darkened Heart would definitely have helped. Have a few chances to see them here coming up, not sure if I want to though because if their setlist was already mostly Fall of Ideals back when they only had three albums, I'm thinking that a performance now would pretty much be Overcome + Fall of Ideals with zero This Darkened Heart.

But anyway, do you not like Slipknot to begin with or...? Saw them earlier this year and they were much better than I'd expected- good mix of a show and music and they played a lot of older stuff (which is a very, very good thing, lol), but even "Dead Memories" was good live (which is just... "WUT?" given that on CD it's such a relatively soft song, but live they beefed it up a bit and it was just way better and actually a worthwhile addition to the setlist).

[Dragonskull]

The headlines of HOVE: (headliner, third warmup, second warmup, first warmup)
Underlined the concerts which got the most attention
WEDNESDAY:
Slipknot after All That Remains after Enslaved after Benea Reach - both All That Remains and Enslaved played better than Slipknot, and are more popular in Norway
THURSDAY:
Faith No More after Disturbed after Bring Me The Horizon after Major Parkinson - Disturbed played awesomely, but they only got an hour (like the other non-headliners) while Faith No More played 4 hours for less than thousand, I bet we were ten thousand at the Disturbed concert
(not metal these, but it's not like I'm going to hide in a cave the days there's no metal on the main stage)
MONDAY:
Franz Ferdinand after The Ting Tings after White Lies after Monteé - The Ting Tings were great, Franz Ferdinand were not (well I only watched 5 minutes, but the concert ended pretty quickly, or they lowered the volume)
TUESDAY:
The Killers after Fleet Foxes after Hockey after The New Wine - This one is okay, 'cause The Killers were the only ones with a decent amount of fans



As for what ATR played at the concert- I don't know, I don't really care either. I got one album, can't even remember what it's called. I'm no big fan of them, but they got some nice tracks. A few friends claimed ATR did the best concert at HOVE- and they're fans. I claim Disturbed did the best concert. But one thing is for certain, I enjoyed The Ting Tings more than Slipknot.

Ah, and no I don't like Slipknot to begin with. Joey Jordison is a good drummer (he's nothing in comparison to Frost and Hellhammer though), but I don't like any of the other 8 members. I can't think of one track of Slipknot I like. Oh, but it sounded better live than it does on CD.. I reckon they played it a bit heavier than the originals.

[TerranUp16]

Joey Jordison actually covered for Frost during Satyricon's '04 US tour because Frost got smacked with some kinda customs crap (they didn't come back until earlier this year and '04 was their first US tour, so... lol). Anyway, didn't see that, but I did see them earlier this year where Cradle of Filth was headlining but Satyricon destroyed them.

[Dragonskull]

Aye, he seem to step in for a lot of bands. I have not seen him playing for Satyricon though, but I don't think it would be the same.. he's stuck on one pace, and the band adjusts thereafter - to the faster or slower, and that's not always a good thing although it's cool for a different feel. He toured with Korn in .. um 2006? When I saw them live- well I was actually there for Enslaved and Evanescence, but why miss out on Korn when I had the ticket- and he pretty much nailed the concert then, providing a definitely heavier sound than you find on the albums.

[Cokemonkey11]

Embrace of the Endless Ocean by Amon Amarth

The Shape of Things to Come by Antarktis Utopia

Planetary Duality II (A Prophecies Fruition) by The Faceless

[Dragonskull]

STEVER - myspace.com/stevermusicrocks
Must say I'm amazed..

[Dragonskull]

Chimaira played their concert in Norway a mere 7 hours ago.. bear in mind I'm still halfly drunk and have been so the last 12h...
the concert wa awesome.. can't say the same about the warm-ups.. was fun to shake hands with Hunter and Jim though! And we taught Jim how t6o say 'Fuck you' in Nowrwegian........ generally had a good time! Sorry for anuy spelling mistakes.. Im gonna skeeep now.. >_>

[~VanMavus]

I love how in you're apology for spelling mistakes you made one .

God to hear you enjoyed it .

[Dragonskull]

>_<

I'm impressed that I managed to spell so much correctly.. I've got some nonsensical posts on another forum.
Funny how fast the limit shrinks when you don't party for a while, hadn't really been out since HOVE this summer (not to drink and watch concerts that is).. and all it took was .. 4L? I've spent money for 5L, but then again I might've bought some food somewhere around 7 in the morning when we pretty much split up and went home with the first subway.


EDIT: Here's a better 'review' of the concert anyway:
It started out with Daath at 8pm, which was okay, I guess. Some cool, heavy riffs. The vocalist didn't realize no one heard him (and neither did their sound technician).. so his growls sort of merged with the drums and bass.
Then about an hour later, when Daath was finished, I went upstairs and had a few beers with some friends that were in the house but not on the concert. Thereby I missed Throwdown, but to be honest I couldn't care less.. I was there for Chimaira, and meeting a few friends of friends was more worth the time- got me into a nachspiel (that'd be afterparty I guess) at the house later on (with cheap beer!) instead of me just walking home after the concert (better to party for 6 more hours and take the first subway). Then I convinced my 'table' to check out Unearth and Chimaira, and after a while they agreed, so we ended up back down in the concert locale. Unearth was pretty decent, they were worthy of warming up for Chimaira (unlike the others imho). Chimaira entered stage around midnight and put on a marvelous show, mostly playing tracks from Impossibility of Reason - Power Trip, Pure Hatred - and Resurrection - No Reason to Live (I think?, actually can't remember really.. but I was confident it was a track or two from Resurrection when I was at the concert). A few from older albums and one or two from the newest album (I had hoped they'd play more from The Infection and less from Ressurection). All in all a decent concert. Power Trip pretty much nailed the concert.

[Cokemonkey11]

One Dark Moment (Providence) by Orphan Project on the album Spooning Out The Sea

[TerranUp16]

Hm, surprised that Chimaira is still keeping a lot of Resurrection in their play list. Last time I saw them, just before they released The Infection and they weren't headlining (I have not seen them headline yet =(, they played "Power Trip" (The Impossibility of Reason), "The Flame" (Resurrection), "Secrets of the Dead" (The Infection), "The Dehumanizing Process" (The Impossibility of Reason), and "Pure Hatred" (The Impossibility of Reason). From experience, "Power Trip", "The Dehumanizing Process", and "Pure Hatred" are staples you're going to hear every show because they are Chimaira's three best songs. However, I had thought that they would start phasing out the Resurrection stuff with The Infection. They also need to play more from their self-titled album but they actually had a different drummer for that so that is my guess for why they keep that to a minimum (in three shows that I've seen them perform, I have only heard "Nothing Remains" and "Salvation" once- "Nothing Remains" was the first show I went to and "Salvation" the second).

In other news, Satyricon is going to be here and headlining on September 29th (the same day that Hatebreed's new album comes out). Definitely going to that because they completely stole Cradle of Filth's show when they weren't headlining so I can't wait to see what they do when they are actually the main act. And Bleeding Through isn't bad either, xD

[Dragonskull]

I think they might've played 'Nothing Remains' as well last night, but I am not quite sure -- the negative side of warming up for concerts with beer, you happen to forget everything but the experience. As for the headlining.. they did not make much out of it, and their concert was pretty much just as short as the other three. They played their songs without too much extra. I don't think Hunter said anything else than 'Hello Norway (this is out first concert here .. blah blah ..' and 'You guys are awesome' (at least along those lines).

Satyricon should be great stuff!

[~VanMavus]

^_^. Also, I have a new favourite song; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVQV0dhNmm0
It's not opera.

[Dragonskull]

Haha, not opera.. yeah right. >_<

[~VanMavus]

It's not, it's a Chinese army song. =D

[TerranUp16]

The Satyricon concert was amazing. I just got back and am studying atm so it's going to be a long night, but I will say that I got an autographed poster from Frost (not one of those pre-printed autographs- this one is a genuine Frost with a sharpie putting together a masterful piece of calligraphy in front of my eyes autograph) =)