It took SIXTEEN YEARS but it's finally here.
New music from SLEEP!
Not TOO into the intro but the rest sounds good to me. A bit more "OMy" than I thought it'd be.

.....new Electric Wizard album is available for pre-orders and is due to come out September 29th (30th for the US).

I've seen Sleep live. Anyone else?

Anybody heard of the band Kuza

At 8/2/14 06:59 AM, PenisClown wrote: I've seen Sleep live. Anyone else?

No. Must have been nice, though. I'd like to go to a doom metal show sometime in the future. I never had the chance to.

At 8/2/14 07:41 AM, Indeks wrote: Anybody heard of the band Kuza

Never heard of them.

At 7/18/14 02:14 PM, Viper wrote: It took SIXTEEN YEARS but it's finally here.
New music from SLEEP!

I'm not a hardcore fan, but I'm definitely going to check this out. These guys are pretty cool.

I've been listening to the new Mushroomhead, Carnifex, and Suicide Silence myself.

Just realized the greatest earsex of my life that is Hammerfall. Anyone else pre order their upcoming piece of gold?

At 8/3/14 02:51 AM, Piemix wrote: Just realized the greatest earsex of my life that is Hammerfall. Anyone else pre order their upcoming piece of gold?

Always love HammerFall. Well, except for the previous album but I'm looking forward to the new one. I should be pre-ordering stuff and have been behind lately. Hell, I've yet to even hear the new Priest album. Shame I live in a time where more of my money goes towards having booze at pubs. :P

At 8/3/14 07:16 AM, Murray wrote:

At 8/3/14 02:51 AM, Piemix wrote: Just realized the greatest earsex of my life that is Hammerfall. Anyone else pre order their upcoming piece of gold?

Always love HammerFall. Well, except for the previous album but I'm looking forward to the new one. I should be pre-ordering stuff and have been behind lately. Hell, I've yet to even hear the new Priest album. Shame I live in a time where more of my money goes towards having booze at pubs. :P

The new Judas album is golden. They never seem to leave their classic and amazing sound.

I'm confident about this new Hammerfall record, though. Maybe it's the artwork, but I'm thinking (and crossing my fingers) it's another Chapter V or similar.

And haha dude. Do what I do and just aim for an album a week. Then again, it always winds up being two, three, four albums lol

Anyone seen all the recent news about Wintersun? Apparently Nuclear Blast basically threw Jari under a bus and won't help him out financially.

Hey guys, if you had to pick 15 tracks from the Iron Maiden discography to make a compilation album, which tracks would you pick?

At 8/3/14 02:51 AM, Piemix wrote: Just realized the greatest earsex of my life that is Hammerfall. Anyone else pre order their upcoming piece of gold?

Haven't listened to anything by them since Chapter V: Unbent, Unbowed, Unbroken which I thought was pretty average and forgettable. I kind of gave up on them back then. I've also read some interviews and viewed video interviews with the guys from Hammerfall, and they came out as pretentious douchebags to me. They seemed to believe that they were one of the greatest bands to exist and gave me a pretty big vibe of superiority complex.

At 8/3/14 07:16 AM, Murray wrote: Always love HammerFall. Well, except for the previous album but I'm looking forward to the new one. I should be pre-ordering stuff and have been behind lately. Hell, I've yet to even hear the new Priest album. Shame I live in a time where more of my money goes towards having booze at pubs. :P

Why don't you download music and buy CDs afterward. That's typically how I do it.

At 8/7/14 08:23 AM, Centurion-Ryan wrote: Anyone seen all the recent news about Wintersun? Apparently Nuclear Blast basically threw Jari under a bus and won't help him out financially.

Aren't Nuclear Blast like... the dickwads of the metal music industry? It's not the first time I've heard bad comments about how they deal with the bands they sign-up.

At 8/7/14 03:44 PM, HeavenDuff wrote: Hey guys, if you had to pick 15 tracks from the Iron Maiden discography to make a compilation album, which tracks would you pick?

1. Run to the Hills
2. Number of the Beast
3. Prisoner
4. Aces High
5. The Trooper
6. Fear of the Dark
7. Judas Be My Guide
8. Flash of the Blade
9. Chains of Misery
10. Flight of Icarus
11. Where Eagles Dare
12. 2 Minutes to Midnight
13. Stranger in a Strange Land
14. Hallowed Be Thy Name
15. Seventh Son of a Seventh Son

Yeah... not much of their newer shit, but whatever. Still most of my favorite maiden songs.

At 8/3/14 02:51 AM, Piemix wrote: Just realized the greatest earsex of my life that is Hammerfall. Anyone else pre order their upcoming piece of gold?

Haven't listened to anything by them since Chapter V: Unbent, Unbowed, Unbroken which I thought was pretty average and forgettable. I kind of gave up on them back then. I've also read some interviews and viewed video interviews with the guys from Hammerfall, and they came out as pretentious douchebags to me. They seemed to believe that they were one of the greatest bands to exist and gave me a pretty big vibe of superiority complex.

Oh dude! Chapter V is one of the best records I've listened to all year! I don't see how that can't be seen as some dynamic and rhythmically beautiful metal.

And addressing the other comment, I found Joacim Cans to be quite the opposite. Humble, happy, funny, smart, and he even said in one interview that it's not good to have superstars as band members in a band because they'll all be arrogant assholes and won't work well together, and that they would rather "be half-good but nice".

At 8/7/14 08:23 AM, Centurion-Ryan wrote: Anyone seen all the recent news about Wintersun? Apparently Nuclear Blast basically threw Jari under a bus and won't help him out financially.

I really hope that's not true. But like HeavenDuff said, it wouldn't surprise me. It's not only Nuclear Blast, but they go along with the rolling ball of scum of all the metal record labels. And Jari is the man.

God damn it it took long enough for Time I to come out, I really hope we don't have to wait another 8 fucking years for Time II or I'm going to put 11 bullets through my cranium Wintersun is the god damn best and Son of Winter and Stars was 13 minutes of sex

At 8/8/14 02:22 AM, Piemix wrote: 1. Run to the Hills
2. Number of the Beast
3. Prisoner
4. Aces High
5. The Trooper
6. Fear of the Dark
7. Judas Be My Guide
8. Flash of the Blade
9. Chains of Misery
10. Flight of Icarus
11. Where Eagles Dare
12. 2 Minutes to Midnight
13. Stranger in a Strange Land
14. Hallowed Be Thy Name
15. Seventh Son of a Seventh Son

Yeah... not much of their newer shit, but whatever. Still most of my favorite maiden songs.

Not much from the pre-Dickinson era either. I think their self-titled is a masterpiece, so I had to have tracks from it on my own list, which I'll share now:

Prowler - Iron Maiden
Running Free - Iron Maiden
Phantom of The Opera
Transylvania - Iron Maiden

The Number Of The Beast - Number of the Beast

Where Eagles Dare - Piece of Mind
The Trooper - Piece of Mind

Aces High - Powerslave
2 Minutes to Midnight - Powerslave
Rime Of The Ancient Mariner - Powerslave

Be Quick or Be Dead - Fear of the Dark
Afraid to Shoot Strangers - Fear of the Dark
Fear of the Dark - Fear of the Dark

Out of the Silent Planet - Brave New World

Different World - A Matter Of Life And Death

Oh dude! Chapter V is one of the best records I've listened to all year! I don't see how that can't be seen as some dynamic and rhythmically beautiful metal.

I liked Crimson Thunder better. But I'm not that much of a power metal fan anymore, so. I'd still recommend the album Return To Heaven Denied by Labyrinth pretty much any day. It's a great album :)

And addressing the other comment, I found Joacim Cans to be quite the opposite. Humble, happy, funny, smart, and he even said in one interview that it's not good to have superstars as band members in a band because they'll all be arrogant assholes and won't work well together, and that they would rather "be half-good but nice".

You probably know them better then me, so maybe I'm wrong about this. I just remember seeing them in a documentary back in 2005, 2006 or 2007, I don't remember, and I really didn't like their attitude. And since I wasn't that big on them anyway, I don't think the music could have helped me overcome my impressions on the musicians themselves.

God damn it it took long enough for Time I to come out, I really hope we don't have to wait another 8 fucking years for Time II or I'm going to put 11 bullets through my cranium Wintersun is the god damn best and Son of Winter and Stars was 13 minutes of sex

I still haven't given a proper listen to Time. I guess that if it would have come out in 2008 like it was originally supposed to, I would have listened to it right away, but that was back then. I'm not as much of a fan of Wintersun as I used to be. I'll listen to it eventually though, it still holds some interest to me, and Jani is a very good musician indeed.

At 8/7/14 02:32 AM, Piemix wrote: I'm confident about this new Hammerfall record, though. Maybe it's the artwork, but I'm thinking (and crossing my fingers) it's another Chapter V or similar.

It should at least be better than Infected. Really didn't like that album.

And haha dude. Do what I do and just aim for an album a week. Then again, it always winds up being two, three, four albums lol

I should try 2 or 3 a month, unless I have other important things to get.

At 8/7/14 03:44 PM, HeavenDuff wrote:

At 8/3/14 07:16 AM, Murray wrote: Always love HammerFall. Well, except for the previous album but I'm looking forward to the new one. I should be pre-ordering stuff and have been behind lately. Hell, I've yet to even hear the new Priest album. Shame I live in a time where more of my money goes towards having booze at pubs. :P

Why don't you download music and buy CDs afterward. That's typically how I do it.

To be honest, I've actually gone down that route now. I've gone on a spree over the last two weeks due to long ass bus journeys to and from work placement. I much prefer to take legal routes but something like Spotify tends to miss a lot of albums so it's not fully reliable. At least with what I've done I actually went and bought one of the records that I wouldn't have done otherwise had it not been for this.

At 8/7/14 08:23 AM, Centurion-Ryan wrote: Anyone seen all the recent news about Wintersun? Apparently Nuclear Blast basically threw Jari under a bus and won't help him out financially.

Aren't Nuclear Blast like... the dickwads of the metal music industry? It's not the first time I've heard bad comments about how they deal with the bands they sign-up.

I'm kinda tempted to boycott Nuclear Blast for this. I don't know how they are unable to give Jari better support (not saying the full thing but at least not having him doing all the work in a fucking apartment) but if this is how they treat him, then I'd rather not buy another record with their label on until this is resolved. Well, I may have to take rare exceptions since Blind Guardian and Helloween are both with NB.

At 8/8/14 01:12 PM, Murray wrote:

At 8/7/14 03:44 PM, HeavenDuff wrote: Why don't you download music and buy CDs afterward. That's typically how I do it.

To be honest, I've actually gone down that route now. I've gone on a spree over the last two weeks due to long ass bus journeys to and from work placement. I much prefer to take legal routes but something like Spotify tends to miss a lot of albums so it's not fully reliable. At least with what I've done I actually went and bought one of the records that I wouldn't have done otherwise had it not been for this.

That's pretty much the way I've been getting my music for the last 8 years or so. I still have a good collection of physical records at home. I'll share a picture of my last 3 or 4 months acquisitions later.

At 8/8/14 01:12 PM, Murray wrote: Blind Guardian and Helloween are both with NB.

Two incredible bands. Not the only incredible bands with that scumbag record label, though.

Guys, I wanna talk about Arch Enemy.

Maybe we already discussed this earlier ITT when it happened, but whatever, I wanna spill thoughts about the new replacement of the frontman.

Think Alissa's unbelievable and leaves traces of Angela behind her while offering her own unique approach to vocals. Seen interviews by her too, she's also a super cool human being.

At 8/10/14 03:44 AM, Piemix wrote: Maybe we already discussed this earlier ITT when it happened, but whatever, I wanna spill thoughts about the new replacement of the frontman.

Think Alissa's unbelievable and leaves traces of Angela behind her while offering her own unique approach to vocals. Seen interviews by her too, she's also a super cool human being.

Don't be fooled. Alissa is a pretentious brat. She's self-centered and only cares about her own self-advancement. She dumped her band for Arch Enemy. She owes these guys all of her success, but she still dumped them for fame and money.

Replacing Angela by Alissa was also a shit move on the behalf of Arch Enemy. They proved just like Nightwish did before that their band is nothing more then a gimmick now. They know how much fame it brought them to have a female lead vocalist doing growls, looking tough while, most importantly, staying hot, sexy and attractive. A gimmick to draw insecure girls to love these bands as they perceive them as a proof of women's success on the metal scene, while retaining a lot of "feminity" by staying hot and seductive. It also attracts boys who think that how hot a woman looks should impact positively the way they perceive her artistic work.

Not that you can't find a female artist attractive, quite the contrary, but it shouldn't be the main appeal to the band.

I liked Angela a lot more, really. I also think that Arch Enemy has been pretty much on the decline for the last 7 years. Nothing they've released since Doomsday Machine has really brought them anywhere new. Rise Of The Tyrant was okay, but afterward, I just feel like they've been recycling their stuff over and over. I also don't see how Alissa will ever be able to change that. They'll remain popular for sure, but that's about all they'll be able to do.

I have the first The Agonist album at home, and I think it's decent, in metalcore standards anyway. I don't know... there is just something about female vocalists in metal who fail to be anything else then "that female vocalist" that bothers me. I like musicians like Dominique Persi from Stolen Babies, or Wata from Boris. Females who manage to exist on the scene beyond the fact that they have boobs.

Yeah, Dominique and Wata are both great. Also Ihriel, Liz Buckingham, Laura Pleasants, Anoji Matsuoka, Julie Christmas, Leïlindel, Mikannibal, Masha Arkhipova, Alena Pelevina, Priscila Serrano, Kriegtalith, Agnete Kjølsrud, Heidi Gjermundsen, Berit Stensland (not really metal but related) and Jarboe (she's worked with a bunch of metal bands).

Women vocalists don't have a place in death metal imo. Black metal, sure. Thrash, sure. Trad and doom, sure. But it just doesn't work for me with death metal.

That's one of the reasons I've never gotten into Arch Enemy so I don't really care either way about a new vocalist.

If she's an asshole then she's an asshole. They'll still make money hand over fist because of female metal fans looking for something to grasp onto (as well as the teenage kids that are going to think she's hot). I'd much rather they listened to female black metal vocalists and the like because I think there are a lot of talented female fronted bands which don't get a lot of attention.

Another reason is just the marketing aspect of Arch Enemy. I've always felt that labels and magazines and shit like that try so hard to shove them down our throats solely because of the vocalist. It just has always irked me.

So I just made a list of 10 more underground metal bands. Lemme know what y'all think, also hit me up with some suggestions if you know of other bands in the same vein as these.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmskmpZa9xw

At 8/10/14 11:45 PM, Kwing wrote: So I just made a list of 10 more underground metal bands. Lemme know what y'all think, also hit me up with some suggestions if you know of other bands in the same vein as these.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmskmpZa9xw

That is a good list. Nice job.

At 8/10/14 05:04 PM, Sense-Offender wrote: Yeah, Dominique and Wata are both great. Also Ihriel, Liz Buckingham, Laura Pleasants, Anoji Matsuoka, Julie Christmas, Leïlindel, Mikannibal, Masha Arkhipova, Alena Pelevina, Priscila Serrano, Kriegtalith, Agnete Kjølsrud, Heidi Gjermundsen, Berit Stensland (not really metal but related) and Jarboe (she's worked with a bunch of metal bands).

I don't know all of these women, but Buckingham and Leïlindel are good ones. I'm not very fond of Mikannibal, though. I love Sigh, these guys are basically one of the greatest bands ever, they are so creative and avant-gardist, it's incredible. But she made it in the band mostly because she's dating Mirai. There's been a lot of musicians who worked with Sigh over their career, but none of them just "joined" the band like Mikannibal. I mean... she plays the sax, she's basically useless for half of their tracks, and her growls are weak as shit. I'm also not quite fond of the place she took in the marketing of the band. Ever since she joined, she's all over the place. In their promo pictures, she's always right in the middle, and in one of their album's booklet (I think it's In Somniphobia, or maybe Scenes From Hell) there are only pictures of her and Mirai. I like to see her as the Yoko Ono of Sigh :P

As for Jarboe, I've only listened to one of her records with Neurosis and I was quite frankly not thrilled, but that was just one record.

Also, I've seen Jex Thoth live with Agalloch and Musk Ox recently, and Jex Thoth was quite decent. Like I previously said, I'm not fond of the "let's focus all the attention on the female member of the band" gimmick (the band's name is also her own personal artist's name), but the music is kind of good. A little too focused on the vocals at times, but there is a cool little old school psychedelic rock touch to their music.

I'll have to check these other musicians though. Thanks Sense!

At 8/10/14 11:06 PM, AllMightyBruce wrote: Women vocalists don't have a place in death metal imo. Black metal, sure. Thrash, sure. Trad and doom, sure. But it just doesn't work for me with death metal.

I wouldn't count melodic death metal as a part of death metal. To me, it's a whole different genre. It may have been spawned by bands willing to give a more Maiden-esque twist to their death metal music, but it really evolved as a whole new genre, just like symphonic black metal really isn't black metal, IMO.

There are major differences, as you know, between traditional death metal vocals and what melodeath vocalists do. The only ground they share is the death growls that some melodeath vocalists try to incorporate to their music, but when it comes to vocalists like Mikael Stanne from Dark Tranquillity, they have their very own style that really isn't anything like death metal vocals.

If she's an asshole then she's an asshole. They'll still make money hand over fist because of female metal fans looking for something to grasp onto (as well as the teenage kids that are going to think she's hot). I'd much rather they listened to female black metal vocalists and the like because I think there are a lot of talented female fronted bands which don't get a lot of attention.

Good female vocalists in black metal? There are that much of them? Come on! Share with the class!

Another reason is just the marketing aspect of Arch Enemy. I've always felt that labels and magazines and shit like that try so hard to shove them down our throats solely because of the vocalist. It just has always irked me.

Well... it fucking works. Look at all the silly photoshoots that The Agonist did for their two records with Alissa. Or just watch any fan-made website or video on YouTube of that band, all you'll ever see is pictures of her alone, or in the middle of all the band members.

At 8/10/14 11:45 PM, Kwing wrote: So I just made a list of 10 more underground metal bands. Lemme know what y'all think, also hit me up with some suggestions if you know of other bands in the same vein as these.

I'm kind of wondering what you mean by "in the same vein as these".

Atheist - Progressive Death/Thrash with jazz elements
Sylosis - Melodic death metal
Skindred - Nu-Metal
Metsatoll - Folk Metal
Massive Audio Nerve - Nu-Metal
Ikd-Sj - Weird kind of mix of Nu-Metal, experimental stuff and grunge.
Myrath - Prog/Folk Metal
The Contortionist - Prog black metal
Unexpect - Avant-garde/Prog Metal
Planet X - Instrumental prog, Shred, Fusion

They are all pretty much in different veins if you ask me :P

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmskmpZa9xw

Also, instead of a fixed image for your YouTube video, you could have something telling us what track is "now playing". I had to keep track by calculating the remaining time, haha. I know it's not a big deal, but a little improvement you could throw in there.

At 8/10/14 05:04 PM, Sense-Offender wrote: Yeah, Dominique and Wata are both great. Also Ihriel, Liz Buckingham, Laura Pleasants, Anoji Matsuoka, Julie Christmas, Leïlindel, Mikannibal, Masha Arkhipova, Alena Pelevina, Priscila Serrano, Kriegtalith, Agnete Kjølsrud, Heidi Gjermundsen, Berit Stensland (not really metal but related) and Jarboe (she's worked with a bunch of metal bands).

Mmmm, Sense. Why did you pick so many female musicians who have hardly done anything with metal bands, or... at all, like Heidi Gjermundsen. You don't have to dig that deep to find good female musicians. Just think about Aghora. It sucks that this band doesn't exist anymore, but they released some memorable material.

Otherwise, I do know some of these musicians you've listed after all, I just didn't remember their name. Like Laura Pleasants. She's from Kylesa. Doing a great job :) Agnete Kjølsrud worked with Solefald a little. Her vocals kind of scare me.

Also, Pricscila Serrano never released any records with the bands she worked with. How did you hear of her?

And also...

Kriegtalith...

I've also found this while browsing MA for the musicians Sense listed earlier.

What the actual fuck...

At 8/11/14 01:06 AM, HeavenDuff wrote:

At 8/10/14 05:04 PM, Sense-Offender wrote:

Mmmm, Sense. Why did you pick so many female musicians who have hardly done anything with metal bands, or... at all, like Heidi Gjermundsen. You don't have to dig that deep to find good female musicians.

I didn't dig, really. I just thought of them. Speaking of Heidi, I mentioned her because I've listened to Barb Wire Smile by Fleurety like a million times over some years now, conscious or not (due to chill/sleep playlists, I've heard it in my sleep so many times). Though that's clearly not a metal track, but still by a metal band and she was still also featured in the track, Facets 2.0.

Agnete Kjølsrud worked with Solefald a little. Her vocals kind of scare me.

Hearing her in the song Tittentattenteksti reminds me of Julie Christmas somehow.

Also, Pricscila Serrano never released any records with the bands she worked with. How did you hear of her?

Which is a shame cuz check this shit out. The only death metal with a chick on vocals I've heard that fucking rocks.

nernerner nernerner nernerner nernerner

And also...

Kriegtalith...

lol Yeah, goofy pic. But good music

Bruce introduced me, speaking of you wondering about him talking about female vocals in black metal.

At 8/11/14 01:13 AM, HeavenDuff wrote: I've also found this while browsing MA for the musicians Sense listed earlier.

What the actual fuck...

It looks like you found him through my mentioning of Masha, who is in Аркона, which he apparently joined recently. I dunno him. Haven't listened to more recent stuff. When i think of them, I think of Лики Бессмертных Богов, whch is one of the catchiest and most memorable metal songs I've heard from Russia.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgXlUxDGFvU

Anyway, I'm guessing it's because of the long ass list of projects that you mention him? Cuz damn, that list must be even longer than that of Stijn Van Couter.

Also, though yeah, they don't need their looks and are great at what they do, but Dominique Persi is still hot. :)

At 8/10/14 03:35 PM, HeavenDuff wrote: Replacing Angela by Alissa was also a shit move on the behalf of Arch Enemy. They proved just like Nightwish did before that their band is nothing more then a gimmick now. They know how much fame it brought them to have a female lead vocalist doing growls, looking tough while, most importantly, staying hot, sexy and attractive. A gimmick to draw insecure girls to love these bands as they perceive them as a proof of women's success on the metal scene, while retaining a lot of "feminity" by staying hot and seductive. It also attracts boys who think that how hot a woman looks should impact positively the way they perceive her artistic work.

I mean, yeah, it's not like Arch Enemy would get a vocalist that is super similar to angela if she wasn't drop dead gorgeous.

I'm trying to stay open minded with women vocalists and I thought Doomsday Machine was some of the best melodeath of its time. But I'm not sure I agree with you, I think Alissa is great live. She performed Nemesis to magnificence from what I saw. And War Eternal isn't bad. Eh. Maybe it'll grow on me. I don't know.

I've been searching for some pretty dark melodic and progressive death metal like Insomnium and Dark Tranquillity for years now. Anyone got any ideas?

At 8/11/14 02:35 AM, Sense-Offender wrote: I didn't dig, really. I just thought of them. Speaking of Heidi, I mentioned her because I've listened to Barb Wire Smile by Fleurety like a million times over some years now, conscious or not (due to chill/sleep playlists, I've heard it in my sleep so many times). Though that's clearly not a metal track, but still by a metal band and she was still also featured in the track, Facets 2.0.

I'm pretty sure you do listen to that music for real and that you really enjoy her vocals. But don't you think that it looks kind of like a desperate move to pick a woman who's sang on two tracks with a metal band when making a list of good female metal musicians? That's what I meant, really.

Also, Pricscila Serrano never released any records with the bands she worked with. How did you hear of her?

Which is a shame cuz check this shit out. The only death metal with a chick on vocals I've heard that fucking rocks.

nernerner nernerner nernerner nernerner

When did that come out? It's not listed on MA! It's pretty good though :)

Kriegtalith...

lol Yeah, goofy pic. But good music

It's so un-kvlt to photoshop yourself in the desert with fake sand flowing down between your fingers. But I'll still give them a chance :P

Bruce introduced me, speaking of you wondering about him talking about female vocals in black metal.

I'm listening to it a little right now, but I'll give it a proper listen sometime in the next few days. Thanks.

What the actual fuck...

It looks like you found him through my mentioning of Masha, who is in Аркона, which he apparently joined recently. I dunno him. Haven't listened to more recent stuff. When i think of them, I think of Лики Бессмертных Богов, whch is one of the catchiest and most memorable metal songs I've heard from Russia.

I'm not much of a fan of what most call pagan/folk metal. Something about it isn't really working for me. I'm not quite sure why. I love some epic folk, some black/folk and some very party/get smashed folk metal stuff, but the pagan stuff somehow doesn't work with me. I'm not too sure if I'm really enjoying her kind of epic chanting vocals. She's awesome, don't get me wrong, these vocals fit the music very well, but it's not really my type.

Anyway, I'm guessing it's because of the long ass list of projects that you mention him? Cuz damn, that list must be even longer than that of Stijn Van Couter.

I don't know who that is, but yes. It was about the long ass list of projects he took part in. I'm wondering if this guy ever finds time to sleep.

Also, though yeah, they don't need their looks and are great at what they do, but Dominique Persi is still hot. :)

And yes, Dominique Persi does look good. Her vocals are absolutely killer and so are her accordion skills. Plus, I kind of like Stolen Babies' outfits. They must put one hell of a show when on tour. I'd love to see them live.

At 8/11/14 03:00 AM, Piemix wrote: I'm trying to stay open minded with women vocalists and I thought Doomsday Machine was some of the best melodeath of its time. But I'm not sure I agree with you, I think Alissa is great live. She performed Nemesis to magnificence from what I saw. And War Eternal isn't bad. Eh. Maybe it'll grow on me. I don't know.

I'm not saying she's bad. Her vocals are actually decent. I'm just not a fan of gimmicky sell-out bands. Arch Enemy isn't really going anywhere, and the fact that they really need a sexy female vocalist to front for their band just shows how much of a gimmick it is. They know how Angela conquered a new fanbase for the band, and getting Alissa to replace Angela just proves that they have no intention to stray away from that strategy in the near future. And it's kind of sad, since Arch Enemy really did put a lot of effort in building up their career. Their early material is great great great melodic death metal. Everything from Black Earth to Doomsday Machine is great. Johan Liiva was a great vocalist, and so was Angela Gossow. But now, they kind of remind me of Nightwish when they dropped Tarja in 2005. They went on that "new vocalist" hunt saying how "it wasn't necessary for the new vocalist to be a female or to do operatic vocals", bu all they ever did afterward was to seek a cute girl to replace her.

I've been searching for some pretty dark melodic and progressive death metal like Insomnium and Dark Tranquillity for years now. Anyone got any ideas?

I strongly recommend Kalmah. These guys have released some of the greatest guitar riffs in the whole genre, and the way they match their lead guitars with their rhythm really is just unbelievable. Try getting your hand on the album Swampsong, They Will Return and Swamplord. These are their first three albums, which are all totally classic, but Swampsong takes the cake, IMO. In their most recent years, they've also released a pretty good album titled 12 Gauge, which I'd also recommend. It's the best out of the last four albums they've released. Which are all good, if you ask me, but their first three albums are just THAT FUCKING GOOD, you cannot not give them a listen.

And for some self-promotion, here's my review for Swampsong.

If you don't already know them, Nightrage is also quite amazing. They're sound changed quite a bit through the years, so I don't know what I should recommend the most. IMHO, their first and second album are amazing from the first second to the last. I'm talking about the albums Sweet Vengeance and Descent Into Chaos. A New Disease Is Born, the third album, is more vocal focused then the previous two albums, and it also features clean vocals and catchy choruses. Not a bad album, just not as engaging as the two previous efforts when it comes to the musical ensemble. The next album, Wearing A Martyr's Crown was kind of disappointing, IMO, and I haven't heard the 2011 album.

At 8/8/14 02:58 PM, HeavenDuff wrote: That's pretty much the way I've been getting my music for the last 8 years or so. I still have a good collection of physical records at home. I'll share a picture of my last 3 or 4 months acquisitions later.

That reminds me, another advantage to slowing down with getting physical records is not worrying as much about the space needed to put everything. After exceeding 900 for CDs I've found myself with less room and the collection is split in two bedrooms. One day I would like to go through them all and decide which ones I don't want to have anymore.

At 8/10/14 03:44 AM, Piemix wrote:

At 8/8/14 01:12 PM, Murray wrote: Blind Guardian and Helloween are both with NB.

Two incredible bands. Not the only incredible bands with that scumbag record label, though.

Yes, there is indeed plenty of great bands with them but the aforementioned bands both fit in my top 5 favourites for metal bands. Other two that definitely make it there are Iron Maiden and Slough Feg but who the fifth one is I'm not sure.

At 8/11/14 03:49 AM, HeavenDuff wrote: I'm pretty sure you do listen to that music for real and that you really enjoy her vocals. But don't you think that it looks kind of like a desperate move to pick a woman who's sang on two tracks with a metal band when making a list of good female metal musicians? That's what I meant, really.

Er, I dunno. It just came to mind.

When did that come out? It's not listed on MA! It's pretty good though :)

Several years ago, but it seems it was never put on an album or anything. Too bad she left the band.

I don't know who that is, but yes. It was about the long ass list of projects he took part in. I'm wondering if this guy ever finds time to sleep.

Belgian dude with a buttload of projects listed. I dunno if you've heard of Organium. It's interesting if nothing else. Distorted pipe organ.

As for Jarboe, I've only listened to one of her records with Neurosis and I was quite frankly not thrilled, but that was just one record.

I love some of her solo stuff (though not all of it). She's done good stuff with Justin K. Broadrick as well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Ff0nrs20xg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3z2eAt1hmCA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_zDJagYGxM

At 8/11/14 07:12 AM, Murray wrote: That reminds me, another advantage to slowing down with getting physical records is not worrying as much about the space needed to put everything. After exceeding 900 for CDs I've found myself with less room and the collection is split in two bedrooms. One day I would like to go through them all and decide which ones I don't want to have anymore.

There is already a few CDs I'd like to take out of my collection, but I can't just throw them away, I want to sell them, but I've never done that before so I'm not quite familiar with the best way to do it.

And 900 CDs, that's a fucking massive collection, bro!

At 8/11/14 05:39 PM, Sense-Offender wrote: Several years ago, but it seems it was never put on an album or anything. Too bad she left the band.

So this track was recorded in a studio, they made a fucking videoclip for it, but it was never released on an LP? What the fuck is wrong with these people...

Belgian dude with a buttload of projects listed. I dunno if you've heard of Organium. It's interesting if nothing else. Distorted pipe organ.

Seems interesting. The guy even has a tag for himself on last.fm, haha! Crazy :P

I love some of her solo stuff (though not all of it). She's done good stuff with Justin K. Broadrick as well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Ff0nrs20xg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3z2eAt1hmCA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_zDJagYGxM

Thanks for the share!