This was kind of a weird listen for me (I'm taking about the song you provided in the review, "Tin Soldier" as a few times I kind of forgot who was listening to here and thought, "it's Filter, not wait, it's more proggy than that"). Surprisingly good from Winger in that I used to hate this band with a passion (well, except for "Headin' for a Heartbreak" which I've always liked). But, yeah, that tune was surprisingly good. Winger has always had top notch musicianship, but I can't say I've liked what they've put on wax, so to speak. Further investigation is warranted with this one due to that track. I picked up The Mob on CD a few days back and I'm curious to see what I think of that. Maybe I'll review it for this thread.
This was good. As your blurb says, it's very Sabbathesque and I dig that. I would have probably been able to tell you the band was Sweden even without you telling me so. They've kind of got that vibe to them. Very much along the lines of other Swedish stoner stuff like The Awesome Machine and such.
This was cool; I dug it. Kind of reminds me of Anekdoten a bit. I dig the guitar passage at the 7 minute mark where the tempo picks up. Reminds me a bit of Journey's "Topaz" from their first album. This isn't exactly "heavy", but definitely interesting and down my alley so I appreciate the submission. Dug the dual guitar thing going on here, but the song didn't do that much for me. That said, it was close enough for rock n' roll that I appreciate the submission. Any album that covers "Baker Street" without the saxophone is a.o.k. with me. Sounds like an interesting album and, in truth, I'd probably dig it if I listened to the whole thing in its entirety.
Remember when I was talking about Rob Hultz of Trouble and how he used to play in Godspeed and, after that, a band called Solace? Well, I know the guitarist from that band, Tommy Southard, and have followed his bands since I got know him some 15 years ago (he's been in such bands as Sugartooth, Slaprocket, and Disease Concept). He's a great guy and super guitar player. Solace had terrible luck in terms of label problems and probably went through more drummers than Spinal Tap, but they were a great band. Here's a track from their album album 13 that was released in 2003. The song is called "Sled Heavy" and it's probably one of my favorite tunes from the band. I always used to say that when this tune played it made me want to just stomp around my house and break stuff at random . It grooves hard and rocks with authority. Check it out.
I'm finally able to give Lid a listen as I've wanted to for a while. I've always had low expectations because I've assumed it goes more in the direction Manic Frustration hinted at. I'm only on the second track but it sounds good so far. I look forward to discovering some cool tunes within this thread.
This thread is getting entirely too commercial. I think it's time to ruin your sunny Saturday afternoons with a bit of drone-doom courtesy of French noisemakers Monarch! Much of this genre sounds like a drunk mastodon (or Mastodon drunk, for that matter) trying to climb a hill during an earthquake, all dense feedback and chords suspended in ether. Good late night listening for when you're feeling particularly misanthropic. I went with this lot rather than the more successful and densely-produced Sunn O))) or even doomier Moss because (a) the first Monarch track I heard, the one above, had such a wonderfully ironic title, and (b) their vocalist is a petite blonde thing who looks more like a nerdy librarian than someone who would be hanging out with a bunch of occultic metalheads doing dungeon shrieking. Also: if you can make it past the 18 minute mark, the drums actually start to lay into something resembling a rhythm.
I really like that song. Reminds me of the first Sabbath album. Maybe a little more American and rock n roll than Sabbath if that makes sense.
Live at Roadburn is essential for anyone into heavy power trio jamming. 90 minutes, no breaks between tracks, holds your interest throughout.
File in the Khanate, Nadja, Burning Witch, and Ahab category, I guess ... You know, this kind of stuff has never really done too much for me. Music for torture chambers, serial killer's basements, and the like; just not my thing though I know quite a few people that dig it. Each to his own
Another Swedish export to add to some others mentioned in this thread already. One of my favorite albums of 2013, and #2 favorite band discovery for 2013 after the previously mentioned Audrey Horne. Another find thanks to Classic Rock Magazine. Free Fall - Power & Volume (2013) 1. Power & Volume 2. Free Fall 3. Midnight Vulture 4. Top Of The World 5. Attila 6. World Domination 7. Love Bombing 8. Damnation 9. Meriola Blues 10. Meat 11. Change Coming 12. Yeah!!! Kim Fransson - Vocals Mattias Barjed - Guitar Jan Martens - Bass Ludwig Dahlberg - Drums Very exciting band that channels AC/DC, Free, The Who, Led Zep, Motorhead & other classic heavy rockers, throws them into a blender and comes up with their own sound. Old school hard rock with strats, marshalls, whammy bars, arm windmills, and leg kicks galore (on exhibit in the 1st video below). The singer has a voice that although he doesn't sound like him, he reminds me of Axl Rose, in that he has two voices. One is a melodic softer voice (which I prefer - check out track #2 Free Fall for some examples of that one) or his harsh whiskey soaked voice on most everything else (like opening track Power & Volume). Some people may find his voice to be too harsh but I love it and think it is perfect for the aggressive style of riff based music the band are doing. World Domination - track 6 Starts with one handed Angus Young inspired pulloffs and morphs into some Pete Townshend windmills...damn good song & cool video. If you only check one out watch this one. I think this band deserves World Domination btw. No nonsense R&R like this deserves to conquer planet Earth. Opening track Power & Volume pretty much sets the tone for the album - it's an all out rocker & think it was the first single (if there still is such a thing). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xFYmCfZcyE My favorite track is #2 though - named after the band - called Free Fall. This channels The Who (my favorite band btw), it sounds like it is using Townshend's Underture chords. Very nice. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qebgeYFgC8 Btw, has a band (other than this one) ever released an album which the title of the album is the same as one of the songs, yet a different song on the album is also the name of the band (say what?)? Leading to head scratching when you see the "Free Fall - Power & Volume" artwork - wondering which is the band name vs. the album name????? I still get confused sometimes. Midnight Vulture At 6:43 might be the longest song on the album. Another great song. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THC-WdxBEA8 Attila This song is a more toned doned one, not going at 100 miles an hour all the way through like some others, with a really cool slow building vibe thanks to the bass work. I'm not one that pays much attention to lyrics but I find the "I'm a liar...You're a liar...but it's over now" refrain to be infectious. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXCEIOeJILs Meat Probably the most AC/DC-ish song on the album due to the opening riff. The soloing is nothing like Angus though. The guitarist does flurries with whammy bar dive bombs. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8wrTCv1suc Nuthing fancy here, just straight ahead bluesy hard rock riff based Strat into a Marshall propelled power & volume with a singer that seems like a combination of Axl Rose & Bon Scott. I don't know how this was recorded but it sounds very raw, live, & "in your face". I would not be surprised if this was a band just getting together and playing live, with minimal overdubs.
I can't say Monarch is my cup of tea, but it sure provides an antidote to the dreadfully saccharine new Yes album.
That would be cool, would like to read your review of that one. It's very Winger-ish except that it has Doug Pinnick singing most of the lead vocals (Kelly Keagy sings lead on one song), also just Reb Beach on guitar (instead of two guitar players). The opening track (One Track Mind) is my favorite on the album.
Enjoyed the tune from the video though I had to put my wallet in my mouth so I wouldn't swallow my tongue from the epileptic seizure that was induced from watching the video . Good stuff. I like the rawness and dirty vibe they project. The singer certainly doesn't look like he's in a heavy rock band. More like selling sweaters and jeans at an American Eagle outlet. Dave Grohl on guitar? Just kidding. I definitely need to check out more of these guys. First time I've ever heard of them. I get a big Steve Marriott vibe from the singer on that tune. This thread is paying dividends already.
Thanks for giving it a listen. Yes there is some Sabbath in there but I think the Graviators take it in a modern direction and are not cloning Sabbath. The guitar player Martin is a monster player. I listen to a lot of Stoner/ Doom metal but this band really stuck with me, and I think could be considered the best album of 2014 and were only in July. That's how good I think Motherload is.
Funny you mention that, I was going to put a warning about that but forgot. Who the hell directed that? It is like they were trying to induce epilepsy or migraines in part of it! Ah yes, Marriott would have been a good name to throw in there as a similar vocalist, but I didn't think of that. This guy is similar but a bit harsher/rougher sounding to my ears.
Well, I never! I will have you know, mister, that I do not have a basement! Anyway, I wouldn't bring up Nadja in this context - while Khanate, Moss, Monarch, Thergothon, et al are all well in the "doom" end of things, Nadja is more in the "drone" end with Sunn O))) and Earth for the most part, or even Jesu when they're in more song-based mode. Check out their demolition job on Norwegian faves a-Ha:
So anyway, since we're talking about metal and heavy rock: I'd like to turn our attention to an obviously related subject, namely the influence of punk on heavy rock. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you Diamond Head: Yeah, this lot might not seem too punk influenced, but both vocalist Sean Harris and guitarist Brian Tatler credit seeing the Pistols with prodding them to quit dicking around in their bedrooms and worrying about their chops, and pushing them to get out there and do it - create their own scene and release their own albums.
Slipkid is winning this thread for me. Awesome stuff I have on my list to get now. Also really like that Lid track from the beginning as well. ...Dudley Morris is losing excluding the Diamond Head track.
Mekong Delta – Kaleidoscope (1992) The story of the birth of Mekong Delta goes that Ralf Hubert, upon hearing Metallica’s Ride the Lightning, said that he liked what he had heard, but thought that he could do it better. Better, for Hubert, a classically trained musician and a nimble bass player, who had seen too many amateurish heavy metal bands in his capacity as a record producer and the owner of Aaarrg Records, meant more technical and better rooted in music theory. This makes for a good anecdote, but it is misleading in that it doesn’t capture the appeal of the band’s music. While a flawed band, the early Mekong Delta went far beyond playing merely an excessively technical type of thrash metal. Their best albums of that era often evoke a bizarrely alien sort of mood, worthy of the late 80s Voivod. By the time of Kaleidoscope, however, the band had gone through some significant stylistic changes. A certain messiness in the guitar playing present on those early albums, which was admittedly in part an artifact of the production, had given way to a cleaner, more precise approach. This is reflected in a tidied up sound, which is almost crystal clear on this album. Uwe Baltrusch, the band’s sole guitarist on this and the previous album, plays in a way that is no less technical than what was heard on their 80s albums, but much more accessible nevertheless. Even a layman’s ear should not miss his unusual harmonic and rhythmic solutions. As a soloist, Uwe often competes with Ralf Hubert himself. His being the mastermind behind Mekong Delta and the band’s main author means that their albums always feature his bass pushed forward in the mix, and with good reason, too, as his lines usually provide the counterpoint to the guitars instead of merely underlining them. The clarity of the production on Kaleidoscope allows the listener to follow the interaction between Ralf’s bass and Uwe’s guitars more easily. This interplay is the core of the album’s, and indeed Mekong Delta’s, appeal. The vocals of Doug Lee, who made his debut with the band on Dances of Death, their previous album, fit well with the clear, even slightly antiseptic, atmosphere of the album. His timbre might prove to be grating for some, and the lines in which he adopts a sarcastic tone to match the lyrics are his weakest moments on the album, but he is a remarkably skilled singer nevertheless. The seemingly effortless way in which he delivers these unusual melodies, all the while following the numerous rhythmic changes of the band playing behind him, is alone worthy of admiration. While the speed/thrash metal style of their first four albums can still be heard here, it is toned down. On several songs, the band seems to be edging towards a more traditional progressive rock/metal style, not too far removed from what Fates Warning and Dream Theater were doing around the same time. The best example of this is “Heartbeat”, the album’s centerpiece and one of its most melodic songs. That is not to say that Mekong Delta suddenly started playing music in the style of those two bands. They remained too acerbic and angular to completely make that transition. The band does do a good cover of Genesis’ “Dance on a Volcano” here, but that song is not indicative of the sound of the rest of the album. What they did do is sacrifice some intensity for a clearer sound. Their music remained complicated, if no longer as convoluted as it used to be on The Music of Erich Zann and The Principle of Doubt, but in cleaning up their style, they lost some of the excitement of those imperfect, but more viscerally potent albums. Kaleidoscope, however, while neither their most daring nor their most exciting album, might represent the best way to become familiar with some of the peculiarities of Mekong Delta’s style. It contains remnants of the style of their previous albums, while providing hints of some of the changes they went through on the following ones. As such, it acts as a good sampler of the band’s rich body of work. Beyond that, it is simply a very good album on its own, well-flowing and consistent in keeping thing interesting through numerous contrasts and changes.
Black Widow Records ( 2012 ) 1.Ride the Storm 12:23 2.World Spins Out of Key 05:53 3.Winter Slumber 06:13 4.Watch the Waves 11:33 5.Tale of the Silent Forest 07:24 6.Given Time 11:26 Here's a Acid/ Psych Doom band from England They’re called Crowned in Earth and this is the band’s second recording entitled A Vortex of Earthly Chimes. The band is the duo of Kevin Lawry (vocals, guitars, bass & keyboards) and Darin McCloskey (drums) and they’ve been together since 2007. Crowned in Earth create a doom-laden musical sound that hearkens back to the time of Black Sabbath’s fourth album. And the sincerity of approach shines through. The sound is lovingly crafted with all the hallmarks of an earlier era.
This is one of the few mainstream "alternative rock" bands I can stand nowadays. Not sure what it is about them, but they seem a cut above the rest to my ears. I have all their albums they're generally all very solid. I don't really know how to describe them, but they're generally in the same vein as Hinder, Three Days Grace, etc.
