Well - that's one list! I'm (again) realizing that I've not spent enough time for new releases this year.

Behemoth - I Loved You At Your Darkest

Varathron - Patriarchs of Evil

Judas Priest - Firepower

Fortress - Fortress EP

...that new Tribulation CD sounded pretty good. The new SATAN is on my check-list but I've only heard (very good!) singles so far. Immortal's "Northern Chaos Gods" was fun for two or three spins but has not returned to my playlist yet.

I've discovered a bunch of old bands this year but not enough great 2018 releases to create a truly honest list.

Is it the end of the page yet? God it's funny being back here! One of my favourite members used to be a guy called Nev I think? He had a rainbow signature. Memories man.

It's really cool you came back Goatchrist! I have to watch your music video, I still haven't.

Does anyone remember a dude called CapnCrunchDaPimp? Haha what a username. I was just listening to some of my old black metal that I uploaded here and one of the reviews was from him.

And let's not forget fucking KIDDMEIZTER! He was the shit! haha.

Happy new years guys, much love!

Haha, almost! I don't know if "funny" is the right word for this empty nest here, but I know what you mean ^^

There used to be many, now there's...few.

Yeah, it's in my SIG! Click it! ;-)

Yeah, isn't that guy still around somewhere?

That name sounds familiar too, indeed.

Same to you Ponos, same to you.

In Austria we say "Guten Rutsch!" - something like a good "slide" into next year. It's not as sleazy as it sounds :-P

Long time no see lads and lasses.

Recently been trying to catch up on a bunch of big metal releases that I've missed in the past few years. Listened to Judas Priest's Firepower for the first time a while ago, and while I don't know if I'd say I enjoyed it quite as much as some people did, I was pretty impressed with it. Firepower and No Surrender are probably the two standout tracks from it for me, but pretty much all of the other songs were decent at worst. The only one I wasn't keen on was Evil Never Dies. I loved how the whole album sounded like it was lifted straight out of the 80s, it has a really classic sound to it.

Apart from that I also gave Iron Maiden's The Book of the Dead a listen and thought it was decent, The Red and Black is probably my favourite track from it.

Also been relistening to a bunch of older albums I have lying around. I like Megadeth's United Abominations quite a bit better than I remember feeling when it first came out. I've also started loving Nightwish's Imaginaerum. Last Ride of the Day might be one of my favourite metal songs of all time, I love how energetic it is.

I gave Stratovarius' Nemesis a proper go for the first time and thought it was great too. My favourite album of theirs is still Eternal, but If The Story Is Over, Fantasy and Nemesis itself are some of their best work ever imo.

For those of you into power metal I really recommend this YT channel (assuming you don't know it already lol). If not for it I might not have found out about Theocracy and they're one of my favourite bands now.

Hope you're all doing well guys. Have a great 2019.

Hello guys, i'm new here and I'm addict to heavy metal, here's some of my fav bands :

Symphonic : Nightwish, Epica, Delain, Gloryhammer, Visions of Atlantis, Kamelot

Heavy : Iron Maiden, Stratovarius, Motorhead, Ozzy, Doro

Power : Powerwolf, Beast in Black

Folk : Eluveitie

Prog : Dream Theater, Adagio

Indus : Rammstein

Of course, there are a lot of bands I know and like :) I'm pretty open to every metal except depressive black metal and extremely violent death metal.

I hope I will find some peeps who like the same bands as me ;w;

I miss posting here.

Hopefully I'm going to get some equipment set up and actually produce more as well. I don't rule out a fresh new black or death metal band if time allows. I'm often already excoriated over my poor time management skills--that's something I need professional help over.

But I have a nice BC Rich Warlock that I purchased. I've got a good friend who lives super close to me (we've been friends for almost a decade); if we were to collaborate though, not much would be added besides vocals. However, just 2 blocks away from where I live is a metal-friendly bar. I'll need a good drummer and bassist that I can trust, but my trust in other people is diminishing for reasons far and wide. That's not healthy and it needs to change.

There you go--the story of my life.

Happens. Especially in here ;-) hi!

Yeah, it was a good, damn good record. Of course one can't expect another Painkiller, but Guardians/Rising from Ruins, Spectre and Traitors Gate really worked for me.

Decent, but bloated. These songs would have clicked better if they were shorter...

Yeah, this one is actually in my Megadeth Top 4 ;-)

Same to you Sir, same to you!

Hey there, fresh blood! :-)

Nice list, especially the older guard of your bands fit my taste as well. I'm sure you'll find similar tastes around here.

These days I'm very much into classic heavy and some thrash metal, as well as melodic black metal with strong influences from the classic genres.

Also I'm heavily into old Danzig these days!

Anyway, welcome!

Me too, we need some more action in here...

I know that problem about trust well enough. But from a purely objective view, you do have a rather perfect setting for getting started ;-)

This guy! I recognise you man. I'm PenisClown from Australia I was posting here a decade ago too.

Loved your music video Marko! Sweet ass song man.

In metal news I'm supposed to be seeing Phil Anselmo soon, I have to get a ticket.

Now I know who you are. Nice to see you, though you should've kept your older name. It's your choice--I just like it a little bit more.

Jesus Christ he used to be quite a drama queen...I don't know if Vinnie Paul dying changed that. I felt that despite his work with Superjoint Ritual over the years, he was mostly resting on Pantera's laurels. The average teenager now wasn't even born when Pantera broke up in 2003.

Thanks a lot Ponos!

I'm also not sure about this guy nowadays. But there's me hoping that you gonna have fun there!

I'm listening to the new Rotting Christ album right now and I'm afraid that they haven't had a fresh idea in about a decade :-/ hurts me, always been a big, big fan.

Anyone else stoked for the new Sleep live album being released through Third Man Records?

So far this is only their second live album and is shaping up to be easily the best of the two. It's a FOUR LP vinyl set where each disc is a different color and is spanning nearly their entire career (it says their entire career but they did nothing from Vol One which they never do anyways).

I was out of action for a long ass time for health reasons and am just now getting to fully get back into the swing of things and trying to get on here and message more in a few places. Metal Hell included.

I can't remember my password! Lol

True. I'm seeing him as "Phil Anselmo and the Illegals" and from what I heard on the ticket page it's really death metal-ish.

I like laughing at him on the Pantera Behind the Music special.

That's fucking awesome. I don't even remember them having a first live album.

I got to see Earthless three days ago, they are like the best band on the planet it's insane. Played through all their classics too which was sick. Their drummer Mario is fucking insane and I don't need to say anything about Isaiah, his guitar playing shouldn't even be possible. Awesome stuff. Got to see some local extreme metal bands before them too, my favourite local acts are called Hexx and Self Harm. Really awesome to see super loud awesome black metal actually existing around my area.

Yeah it came out back in like 2012 and was recorded in 2010. There were only 420 copies pressed and the quality is a little.. lackluster to say the least. From what I've heard from both, the new one from Third Man is definitely the better of the two.

https://soundcloud.com/thirdmanrecords/sleep-marijuanaut-live-at-third-man-records-clip

I fucking love Earthless. I found out about The Groundhogs and learned Cherry Red on guitar because of them covering it.

Man, it's been way long since I last remember posting here. Haven't done as much for discovering metal and keeping on top of new releases as I did back in the day. One of my more recent memories for discovering great metal music is Persefone. Some damn good progressive death metal from them, although admittedly I'm more caught listening to their album Core than any of their others.

It's also been a good while since I last went to a metal gig but I'll be back at Bloodstock in August so plenty to see there. Also did well last time I went there. Need to get back to going more gigs but it's not as easy these days with my working life, love life and adulting life.

I like this list already, although admittedly have no clue who Adagio are. Given my love for prog metal, I wanna know what these guys are like.

Oh man no new posts! Can't say I'm surprised though.

I saw Phil Anselmo. His new band is grindcore as fuck and it's really cool to see him doing that kind of stuff. He sounded good. I think his Australian tour went really well and he got lot's of other band's singer's to finish the sets off and sing Walk with him on stage so overall a positive influence on many Australian bands.

I was hoping Marko might have popped in and posted something, I had quite the Greek weekend recently. I saw Greek band 1000mods play twice, they are a really fun stoner band. Because they were Greek I had to ask the guitarist if he was a fan of Rotting Christ. He said that the two bands were friends and go see each other play shows! That made me happy.

Come back and post some shit guiz

Yeah, it's rather quiet in here, but I'm looking for new stuff every few days, but I'm not very much into progressive/stoner-stuff so I don't feel that my input would be of benefit to anybody ^^

That actually sounds pretty cool. Appparently the man is dabbling in various waters these days and doing so rather well.

As I said, I'm here ;-) Greece is awesome, of course. I'm sure that most active Hellenic bands have at least met Rotting Christ once or twice in their touring life, hard to miss! Even I met former Rotting Christ guitarist George Bokos at a local festival after their set, chewing on fries - he was a very nice guy, kindly answering me and my friend's awkward, alcohol-induced questions. Too bad that the band is too repetitive these days with a worrying lack of fresh ideas and lots of recycling dampening their impact on me....

Good idea. I'm currently busy with the following things:

• writing new Adder's Fork music
• writing new reviews for Antichrist Magazine
• moving into a new home (AGAIN....)
• going to work

Still trying to find new music though, with moderate success due to these time constraints, BUT - I've found some new stuff I dig:

Vanden Plas (Progressive Metal from Germany)

• their album "The Ceraphic Clockwork" is a fine display of catchy songwriting and complex riffs with a smooth and FAT production job. Enjoying this, even though it's a little out of my comfort-zone and their singer is a little irritating at times....

Hirax (Classic Thrash from California)

• I've known them for a while but not "Immortal Legacy", which is their latest album (2015) and a fantastic thrasher with a highly likeable vocalist who's got very unique pipes. Gotta listen to their crazy-ass-fretwork!

Long has it been since I posted here, I thought I would never return. Yet...here I am. Hows everyone doing? I been hording lots of underground black metal bands Endstille and Advert Sorrow comes to mind. Hope everyones doing good.

Took me this long to find the fucking metal thread. Right, well I'm an oldschool fag as far as things are concerned, Iron Maiden or die and all that jazz. I'm a fucking encyclopedia as far as 80's metal is concerned, from the most AOR-like melodic metal to the most brutal shit of the period, I've probably heard of it heh. Got into metal bout 13 or so years ago, kind of around the time I found this godforsaken site, and I guess I've spent most of my time since then obsessing over it. I've got a ton of bands in my library, and picking favorites is goddamn hard, so to be honest I'll just list what I dig in general; Speed metal, german/brazilian thrash (I can't tolerate bay area anymore, nearly every nuthrash band aped that style and I'm fucking sick of it), NWOBHM, First wave Death/black, early 90's death metal, etc. I guess my top three bands would be Maiden, Manilla Road, and Running Wild, at least in consistency, since those dudes had more than 5 albums in a row where they were on fucking fire. Lately I've been listening to sorta softer stuff, taking a break from heavier shit.

Here's a few:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMO1je9xejY (Blue Oyster Cult - Don't Fear the Reaper live 1982, it's a really great rendition of the song, plus the guitars have a cool overdriven yet clean crunch that only cranking 100watt amps in a live setting can do, very large, spacious sound, plus Dharma plays a solo at the end, it's fuckin rad)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLYZWj2lHO0 (Hammer - Across the Line, these guys were fringe for NWOBHM, mostly because of the synths, but they're used atmospherically for the most part in this song. It's a 70's style prog-lite ballad, but it still jams, and the solos in this one fuckin wail)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nl95A7on4iI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_pfQtbCMWo (Hällas - Astral Seer and Autumn in Space respectively, had to post two songs by these guys, they're so fucking good, basically Iron Maiden had they started in 1969 and tried to be a heavier Wishbone Ash/Uriah Heep.)

And last but not least

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lU1d_ALXRIc (BO2 - Condemned to Oblivion, not as heavy as it sounds but it's real kickass spanish speed metal, vocalist sounds weird but unmistakably spanish with his vocal tone, this song and band are pretty obscure, came out on a metal compilation released by a small indie punk label, surprisingly nearly everything in it is really really good concerning 1988 metal, this one song's my favorite)

I'll be honest, I don't listen to a lot of modern stuff, even stuff that's trying to ape the older shit, idk, I really haven't heard anything that has that certain atmosphere that older analog records have, sounds eh, how can I say this, "too digital" to quote that one Metalocalypse episode.

Hello there man! Your name emits familiar vibes! But hell, I it's been a very long time.

Well, as you can see, traffic is slow but at least there IS some traffic these days.

Currently I'm blasting through a lot of Running Wild and Blazon Stone, because I'm in dire need of lighting-fast melodic riffing. Also been enjoying the new Idle Hands release ("Mana"), which is a strange but exciting brew of 80s Post-Punk/Goth Rock and Heavy Metal.

How long have you been gone?

Better late than never! :-= welcome!

Too true! I'm currently blasting through their mid-era discography (Death or Glory/Blazon Stone/Pile of Skulls/Black Hand Inn/Masquerade/The Rivalry) which I feel is a 6-album win-streak. Masquerade is not THAT excellent but still a nice record, the others are all classic.

Thanks for the recommendations!

I know what you mean. There's been a lot of "revival" bands popping up lately, but most of them don't really reach the original quality standard. You know, even Blazon Stone - while doing the aping really well - are NOT the original Running Wild and will never be. Still loving many of their riffs though.

Well, to be frank, for me Running Wild's best period was from the debut to Black Hand Inn, they had a bit of a dip in quality with Blazon Stone and Pile of Skulls (Both felt like Rolf going through the motions plus on Stone, they fired their load way too early with the title track and the rest of the album being lackluster as a result, and Pile of Skulls' vocal performance is lacking compared to the earlier material). I really can't listen to anything after Black Hand Inn since it's such a brilliant fucking album following it up would be a total disappointment if the quality isn't kept up. I might listen to Masquerade or Rivalry one of these days but maybe if I haven't heard RW in a long ass time. Speaking of Blazon Stone, I really like some of their shit, and to be frank, they've replaced RW on a couple of occasions, most certainly modern RW, Rolf really doesn't have it in him anymore, he NEEDS to drop the hard rock schtick. Still though, for what it is, Blazon Stone is absolutely satisfying to the needs of anyone who ever liked classic RW, even if they will never measure up, they're the truest definition of RW within a modern setting.

A lot of revival bands suck monkey balls, and I feel it's because they're not really trying to expand upon the sound in a meaningful way, just directly rip off riffs and write some new semi-derivative lyrics and call it a song, or an album, in the case of rethrash. I guess the speed metal guys have done better but since that's a genre I've a lot of proficiency in I haven't really checked out many modern speed metal revival records until I've got something of my own out. Thing is, you can't stay with boneheaded riffs forever and you've gotta develop the sound of the genre further than from what you listen to. Like you could be listening to fucking Venom or Atomkraft, Warfare, any of that NWOBHM/Motorheadite stuff, and it sounds cool and all, but what could you add to it? How about dual leads? Or maybe doom sections, or a bit more melody? The ideas and sound can be expanded upon, and simply paying "tribute" by copypasting the sound is fucking stupid. Tradition is the preservation of fire, not the worship of ashes.

Years, thought i'd never come back. I used to be a regular here. Now I rarely vist. These days, Newgrounds looks like shit.

any ways these guys need to go nucleur in the music world. Possibly one of the best Undergroun Black Metal bands I've heard in a while.

https://youtu.be/0DV8N7r90ik

I'm still having a hard time getting into their earlier releases ("Port Royal" is where the fun begins for me) but I'm not planning on giving up ^^ I'm just not too fond of the rawness in THAT kind of style. I prefer the kick in the nuts that mid-era Running Wild offers. I can tell you that "The Rivalry" is a little comparable to "Painkiller" in terms of delivering a strong and heavy album later in a bands long-running career. Check out the title track or "Agents of Black"/"Adventure Galley" for some excellent true speed metal or "Return of the Dragon"/"The Ballad of William Kid" for some of their finest midpace-monsters.

Rolf had a few better songs on that last record of his, "Rapid Foray" but also - again - shoddy production and too much filler to be taken seriously. At least "Black Bart" or the title track were kind of fun. Indeed, Blazon Stone do it better these days - maybe they should do some ghostwriting for Rolf these days...

Absolutely agree. Especially the thrashing suffers a lot from regurgitating the classic style again and again. It's difficult to find really nice speed metal bands for me because I'm very picky when it comes to vocalists. I don't like the ultra-clean wailers with the "balls-cut-off"-approach to things. I like some dirt in my vocals, that's why I keep enjoying Rolf's delivery so much.

Well said.

Same here. I think I was absent for 7 or 8 years. Already forgot what made me come back, but that fine scent of nostalgia keeps me going, even though this Newgrounds is dead as hell and I don't give much of a shit about the site anymore.

Except for you fine people in here. It's still fun to post, even if its slow.

Could be good, but to be honest, I'm just not really in the mood for rawer black metal these days, because that fucking IDLE HANDS album everyone drools over is also putting a spell on me. I just LOVE the mixture of 80s goth and classic metal they're offering. Hell, it's like they spent time listening to MY music and created their own, haha ^^

Idle Hands - Give Me to the Night

You kidding? Fuck man I adore their first three albums, to be frank it's those three records that set them apart from Blind Guardian and Helloween, the latter whom I REALLY don't give a fuck about after their first record. BG had 2 really good demos as Lucifer's Heritage, the second which had the DEFINITIVE version of Run for the Night, which, sadly on the Follow the Blind "remaster" Hansi decided to turn down the fucking bass which was a fucking retarded move on his part because on the original demo he plays some sick fuckin lines on the verse, chorus, and bridge. But yeah regardless their first album I find to be their best, Follow the Blind dropped the amazing sense of melody they cultivated on the first record for pseudo-thrash bullshit and by the time they recuperated their melody, they'd gotten obsessed with bullshit orchestras and not playing fast, and those are sins I cannot forgive. I've never liked Helloween that much either, too major key for my taste, a lot of their shit sounds like happy skipping through a fuckin meadow once Kiske joined, and that shit rustles my jimmies fierce. But Running Wild? Man those guys had dirt and balls from the beginning, and even when they got more class and melody on Port Royal they KEPT the balls. That's why they're so good. To be frank, Gates to Purgatory is basically Venom mixed with Maiden and Priest, Branded and Exiled tries to polish that sound a bit, dropping some of the Venom dirt, and then Under Jolly Roger is basically a filthy version of Port Royal. That last one has some undeniable tracks, I mean come on, the title track? Beggar's Night? Raise your Fist? Merciless Game? That's some top tier trad metal tunage right there, especially Merciless Game with it's awesome ending.

There's a couple dirtier speed bands I've heard thrown around here and there, probably the only one that really hit me like a ton of bricks was Black Magic, they did one tune called Thunder of the Undead and it still blows the fuck out of my head every time I listen to it. It's exactly what I'm talking about, expansion of the sound. It sounds like Slayer on Show no Mercy but a hell of a lot more ambitious with their songwriting and riffing. It's the tits man. I also try to aim for a filthier kind of speed metal sound with my personal work, I like the rough, down and dirty yet melodic NWOBHM singers more than the German ultra clean screamers.

Not to suck my own dick by posting these (and I do apologize if instead I should be shilling this shit in its appropriate thread) but here's a couple tracks which I think captured that kind of speed metal sound pretty faithfully:

No man, I'm not - I've developed a craving for decent mixes and mastering and need more time to get adjusted to some older/rawer recordings than I used to - ESPECIALLY when it's about heavy/speed/thrash and the likes. I want the BEEF and/or atmosphere in my music and that's why it's harder to get into these older albums AND because I don't think the melodies are quite as grande as they turned out to be in their mid-era.

Helloween I don't care about either. It's all fluffy-puffy bunny-hopping stuff. Or at least a lot of it and I don't need it.

I like a variety of early Blind Guardian songs but mostly their debut and "Tales From the Twilight World". I think the latter bas both speed and melody but it's been a long time since I was really into this band.

Hey, it's metal so it's perfectly fine putting it in here. I like your approach, it's very classic ^^ your friend on the second track does...struggle a little with actual singing, but the tough grunt is fine enough. Tight rhythm section there and some nice soloing/leads!