What are you listening to

[WarmBeer]

Iron Maiden - Fear of the Dark.

Much maligned, and not exactly a high-point in their long, long career.

But dang, some of these tracks rock :beerbang: Especially the title track.

Old-skool British Metal FTW

 

[Steve]

Hersham Boys, Sham69.
Cheers
Steve

 

[Dreadbyte]

Dethklok

Excrementory Grindfuckers
Carcass
Bolt Thrower
Suffocation
Meshuggah

 

[bum]

Rage.

Dave Dobbyn - Slice of Heaven.

Thanks for nothing, Greedy Smith.

 

[Jazman]

Slayer world painted blood album

 

[MitchDudarko]

Liking Architects cd, Hollow Crown.

 

[leiothrix]

Nightwish - made in hong kong and various other places.


Annette is sounding better in this than in the studio album - can't wait for them to get around to releasing an album that is designed for her rather than Tarja.

Rob.

 

[Doogiechap]

'Soundtrack to the Proposition' by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis.

That is a truly haunting piece of work .
Saw Pearl Jam

and Ben Harper and Liam Finn last night.


Special. very special....

 

[manticle]

Fintroll: Slager vid Blodsalv

 

[Adamt]

Which album is that from?

I've listened to Ur Jordens Djup a few times... I dunno... I'm not sure if I like the real heavy, dark metal feel mixed with the upbeat humppa.

 

[manticle]

Which album is that from?

I've listened to Ur Jordens Djup a few times... I dunno... I'm not sure if I like the real heavy, dark metal feel mixed with the upbeat humppa.

Jaktens Tid.

To be honest, I've always disliked most metal and a bit of folk metal (finntroll and korpiklaani) is all I can cope with. I think I'm attracted to the folk more than the metal too.
I've always been more into punk and industrial/post industrial (and I don't mean emo or ebm). I find it hard both to take most metal seriously and to accept that anyone else could.

This is despite continually checking out new and old bands as I have many friends into extreme metal and like to listen to stuff I'm not familiar with.

The culture of drink and not give a rat's arse about anything but music and booze makes sense despite cheesy hair metal - it's the evil trve kvlt stuff that makes me scratch my head. Folk metal sometimes manages to bridge that gap.

 

[Renegade]

Ineffable Mysteries From Shpongleland.

 

[Bizier]

The culture of drink and not give a rat's arse about anything but music and booze makes sense despite cheesy hair metal - it's the evil trve kvlt stuff that makes me scratch my head. Folk metal sometimes manages to bridge that gap.

I have to say my favourite band used to be Emperor from their early split EP onwards. I always think it is funny though when you get people that take it all so serious that they go shopping for toilet paper wearing chainmail, makeup and a helmet or whatever, and will only record in caves or desecrated churches. Then again, I listen to the stuff where they are keeping it real by playing a lute or some other medieval instrument and sometimes it just plain funny rather than being so retro that it is hardcore. I can't look at the Dark Throne logo without thinking that they made it by blowing ink with a straw, just like I did in kindergarten.

 

[Adamt]

Jaktens Tid.

To be honest, I've always disliked most metal and a bit of folk metal (finntroll and korpiklaani) is all I can cope with. I think I'm attracted to the folk more than the metal too.
I've always been more into punk and industrial/post industrial (and I don't mean emo or ebm). I find it hard both to take most metal seriously and to accept that anyone else could.

This is despite continually checking out new and old bands as I have many friends into extreme metal and like to listen to stuff I'm not familiar with.

The culture of drink and not give a rat's arse about anything but music and booze makes sense despite cheesy hair metal - it's the evil trve kvlt stuff that makes me scratch my head. Folk metal sometimes manages to bridge that gap.

I know what you mean about not taking some metal seriously, but I think lumping all metal into that category is going way too far. Almost all of the "mainstream" metal is just anger and hate, but there's a lot that is fantasy/mythology based stuff ive come across that has more content In one track than your average Michael Bay movie.

I'm listening to jaktens tid now... A few awesome little sections of folky goodness, still too much darkness for me to like it as folk metal though.

Edit: it seems jonne jarvela of korpiklaani is yoiking on this album! Album saved!

 

[manticle]

I know what you mean about not taking some metal seriously, but I think lumping all metal into that category is going way too far. Almost all of the "mainstream" metal is just anger and hate, but there's a lot that is fantasy/mythology based stuff ive come across that has more content In one track than your average Michael Bay movie.

Didn't mean to suggest I would lump all metal into any one category. Some metal and most metal heads I know belong in the 'let's drink and enjoy' category, even if they are singing about trolls and mountains and evil corpse eating maggots. I should have expanded a bit I guess.

Sonically metal has never really done it for me. Eighties metal and some viking metal I just find cheesy. The power of some more extreme forms of metal (particularly death) I quite like but it's ruined by typical guitar solos (for me anyway). Grindcore fills the gap a bit better there. Black metal is really the one I can't take seriously that is all too often taken seriously and I should have specified that. I know some bands have tongue in cheek (like Carpathian Forest and probably Immortal) but if I were looking for something dark and extreme (which I often do) I find most of it an unaware parody. I find a lot of the same themes done better in dark/black ambient and some other post industrial styles (there's a fair load of cheese there too though). I actually really like a lot of extreme forms of music but most BM seems to fall short for me.

As for the fantasy/ambient type metal and related, it often (not always) fails for me because there is a tendency to use cheap shitty synths to create a mediaeval or fantastical atmosphere and this destroys it. I guess that's why I like a lot of Korpiklaani because they use real instruments that sound real. Synths are fine when they don't sound like synths. Ever heard early Mortiis or Lord Wind? Ensiferum are a bit the same too - nice melodies but that synth sound drives me nuts. Same with Moonsorrow and to some extent Shaman. I love dark ambient music that sounds organic or industrial whereas most metal related ambience sounds tinny and one dimensional unless it's played without the synth. I've only heard snippets of most of these band by the way so I'm happy to have my mind changed (except Mortiis - heard loads of his stuff when he made synth driven ambience).

Funnily enough a fantastic black industrial band called MZ.412 make some fairly horrendous, sounding black metal. Even my very proudly nerdy extreme metal friend thinks it's dross (he also loves their ambient industrial stuff).

I do say this as someone who continually checks out music from genres he's not into to see if there's something that might change his mind or to see if his tastes have changed and I am always open to recommendations.

 

[Adamt]

Yep, I'm not a huge fan of the synth sound either - I pick that up in Finntroll as well - I love the "odd" instruments. Ensiferum is getitng played through my mp3 player quite often lately, Victory Songs is a pretty solid album. It's not real traditional folky, but seems to convey the epic/mythological feel a little better (for me).

I don't listen to much black/death, though I'm a bit of an Opeth tragic - I haven't felt the desire to spread my listening further than that. I listen to a bit of Amon Amarth too... call that death if you will.

I've probably mentioned elsewhere, but I'm really into the Euro power metal stuff: I got pulled in by Avantasia - The Metal Opera. If you want something different, this is worth a listen. It's a "supergroup" project, full of members of some of the big power metal bands (not that anyone here would've heard of them!). Oh... but you don't like guitar solos! It may not be for you then.

 

[manticle]

Currently listening to November Novelet: Entry.

@adamt: most of the music I like is soundscape-ish and atmospheric but with dark or negative themes. Some of it is very beautiful, a lot of it is very harsh, abrasive and unsettling.

That said, I love music and like beer, I love its diversity so I'm always looking for new (and usually gutsy, raw or edgy stuff) music. Guitar solos don't do it for me but I'll check out any recommendations you have along folk metal lines, even those I mentioned. Also interested in the folk musics that originally inspired a lot of this stuff. There's some celtic folk metal outfit that Shane Macgowan helped out with - some of it was major cheese, power/hero type stuff but some of it was great. Can't recall the name at the moment.

 

[Adamt]

I tend to cling to bands I like the sound of, and rape their entire collection before moving on, before coming back at a later date. Consequently, I've only really seriously listened to Korpiklaani and Ensiferum as far as folk metal goes, with a bit of Finntroll. I'll let ya know if I come across anything interesting... but yeah, give Victory Songs by Ensiferum a crack, good quality tracks from start to finish.

 

[manticle]

Cruachan is the band I was thinking of.

 

[Steve]

The Snake, Al Wilson (Northern Soul)
Out on the floor, Dobie Gray (Northern Soul)
Cheers
Steve