August Burns Red - Messengers

These guys were one of my favs in high school and they just announced the 10 year anniversary tour for this album. You can bet I'll be there.

On the complete opposite end of the spectrum, been listening to Hooded Menace in preparation for the show this weekend. Shit's tight.

I saw them 3-4 years ago and they sounded very pop influenced to me. Nevertheless I liked them, no intention of buying a cd but they rocked that night.

But we love them.


Evil made music.




Great albums!


I'm.

(2016) In the Woods... - Pure.
This is good. Quite solemne.

Black Sabbath - Megalomania

It doesn't get much better than this. Whatever is better than this probably isn't even better than this.

Amorphis - Magic and Mayhem

The Tomi Joutsen lineup works their magic on older material. Very good as far as re-recordings go.

Nah there's plenty of great pop music. It's just that Amaranthe plays the very bad variety of it and has done so their whole career.

Sonata Arctica - Candle Lawns

This is a pretty mellow ballad, but it works. Excellent tune.

Ghost - The Ritual

More spooky Halloween music! Easily their best album.

The main riff is one of the best, for sure. I personally like Into the Void more, but Megalomania is still a god-tier track.

Iron Maiden - The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

Probably my favourite song of all time.

Listening to a new record from Auroch - Mute Books. Pretty cool death metal, a few of the guys from Mitochondrion are in the band, but it doesn't go quite as far into murky weirdness.

https://profoundlorerecords.bandcamp.co ... mute-books

There's a certain amount of irony here...

South Park Bigger Longer & Uncut OST - What Would Brian Boitano Do?

I'm sure he'd kick an ass or two.

I'm not seeing it. I think Amaranthe is lowest-common-denominator garbage with no songwriting skills and horrible vocals, and I like the new SA a lot. It's only irony if you presume that everything even slightly close to the same genre is automatically of the exact same quality.

Edit: Especially cause the first sentence of that post said there's plenty of great pop music... honestly, that's a really dumb post if you think what I said was ironic at all.

To an extent I agree, but The Sufferer and the Witness is their best album by a sizable margin, and that's basically the indisputable start of their more modern era (more radio friendly songs and Tim suddenly learning how to sing). Endgame grew on me a lot. Satellite is every bit as good as Savior in terms of their "obvious pop rock singles that are incessantly catchy and impossible to hate as long as you like the genre" and Disparity by Design is probably their most underrated song, plus the bass line that leads off the title track fucking rips. Black Market only has a couple worthwhile songs and Appeal to Reason is really hit or miss (though the hits are incredible, Collapse is a top five song for me). For what it's worth though, my second favorite is Revolutions per Minute, and my favorite song on Sufferer (and my favorite RA song overall) is Bricks, which could have easily fit on any of the first three albums. Rise Against is pretty easily my favorite fake punk band behind The Offspring, and even then I could argue with myself that they're actually better since Offspring's problem is that their bad songs are really bad and the good songs are really good, whereas RA doesn't have a lot of truly terrible songs, just lame ones here and there.


Rise Against - Long Forgotten Songs
One of the only "b sides and covers" albums that I find worthwhile. I read an interview once where Tim admit that he voted to leave Savior off of Appeal to Reason so now the joke is that he's not allowed to pick which songs to include on albums since it became their biggest hit. This album shows that could be a good idea, because if it was his idea to leave off tracks like Elective Amnesia, Grammatizator, and Generation Lost, he needs to sit it out and let the rest of the guys handle it. Voice of Dissent is also incredible, and the Sick of It All cover stands right next to State of the Union as proof that he needs to scream more, because he fucking rules in the more aggressive songs.

Satanic Warmaster - Carelian Satanist Madness

Finnish elite bm. Best SW album.

The only Rise Against I know is 'Give it All' - part of the soundtrack to my childhood. Great stuff!

Vardoger - Ghost Notes

There's something about this album that is so enjoyable and fresh, never getting stale or boring. It's been one of my most listened-to albums since its release.

BH - I fully agree with you. The Sufferer is the perfect blend of their older punk roots and their new rock sound. I haven't found another band that has such a clear line of transition from album to album. RPM, Siren Song, The Sufferer, and Appeal to Reason are my favorite RA albums.

Also, who's the bad vocalist in Amaranthe? I'm not a huge fan of poppy female vocalists, but Elize can sing.

Involution - My Own Mind

Darkthrone - Burial Bliss

Starting to grow on me, but the verdict is still out on this album for me.

As a power metal fan, you should be ashamed for not immediately recognizing Blind Guardian.

I'm only familiar with their newer stuff, so I can't comment. I always end up doing that with one or two popular bands (and then I listen to their other stuff and determine it's the greatest thing to ever happen to music).


Rise Against - Everchanging (acoustic)

I used to listen to this song soooo much.

Grave Digger - Rheingold

I don't listen to a lot of this kind of stuff but when I do, it blows me away every time!

I still haven't heard a single Blind Guardian album past the debut. lol Also, Rheingold absolutely kicks ass.

Go listen to Somewhere Far Beyond. Like, right now.

And yes, yes it does.

This.

Gallower - Holy Light

Some cool black/thrash from Poland. Apparently there will be another tape out sometime this year, but haven't seen at Shadow Kingdom yet.

You people not knowing earlier Blind Guardian are insane. Somewhere Far Beyond is seriously a Top 10 all time album for me, and Tales from the Twilight World would probably be right there too if there wasn't such a distinct difference in quality between the first six songs and last three. Even with the drop, it's one of the best albums I've ever heard.

Yeah, all the old Blind Guardian albums are great. Tales from the Twilight World through Imaginations are top class stuff.

Swallow the Sun - Hope

I like this band.

Here's what I listened to today:

Hypocrisy - A Taste Of Extreme Divinity

Quite surprising to see that this album doesn't get much attention. It's weird because when I listen to some songs individually, I lose my shit and say that this is one of the best melodic death metal albums I've listened to. But, when I listen to the whole thing at once and I get to songs like "No Tomorrow" and "The Quest", I start to second guess why I even put this album in such high regard. They aren't bad songs, but they slow the pace down and the band really shines when they're just speeding through everything; the only exception to that is "Global Domination". I still really dig this album a lot because most tracks are bloody great and that destructive guitar tone really makes them stand out in a rather sterile genre of metal.

Omen - Hammer Damage

This is only the second album I've heard from Omen, the first obviously being Battle Cry. The first three songs really had me hyped for the rest of the album, but the middle section is a bit underwhelming and very much a bunch of filler. It does get back on its feet near the end, but like I said, the middle section brings it down. Production is quite shitty for 2016. It had me thinking that it was made back in the 80's, but it clearly isn't. I hated the vocalist on Battle Cry and I still hate him on Hammer Damage, but there are moments of brilliance on here that make up for his annoyingly gritty voice. I don't mind a gritty voice, but I mind his. This album also made me realize that I should begin exploring USPM, despite what I said about it before. Manilla Road are way up on that list.

^ That's actually a different singer. JD Kimball, who sang on the early stuff, died some years back.

Oh, whoops. Nevertheless, I thought they sounded fairly similar.

"Wrestling the Revelation Of Futility" -
Dire Omen

I was recommended them after my recent post in the Death metal help thread. Liking it so far.

The Wicker Man OST - Gently Johnny

Woah, I was pleasantly surprised by the music when watching this film for the first time just recently.

Some different stuff today.

Jimmy Eat World - Integrity Blues

New album came out today. Honestly haven't listened to them since Futures so I didn't know what to expect. There were only about 4-5 memorable songs and the rest was meh.

Wormrot - grindcore for people who don't like grindcore? That's me! I enjoyed this greatly.

Gatecreeper - Sonoran Deprivation - did I miss something? This just seems like another HM-2 worship band

Grim Reaper - Walking in the Shadows

Typically uninspired album following the trend of every NWOBHM band in existence reforming to make an album. Not helped by the uber-modern, dry-as-fuck production or Steve Grimmett's general lack of vocal talent but there are some well written tracks here and the drummer is a beast. "Call Me in the Morning" = great song.

Deep Purple - The Battle Rages On...

I really like this, but it is to date the most recent Deep Purple album which I can genuinely state I enjoy. The Morse era just hasn't done it for me.

Labyrinth - New Horizons

I've been reading a lot about Return to Heaven Denied lately and figured I'd revisit it. Still one of the best albums power metal has to offer.

I thought the same thing when I tried that album. It's soooo not that good at all to me. However, I am basically illiterate when it comes to modern death metal so I don't know if that's the norm or just a mediocre album.

Overkill - Killbox 13

Dude, what the hell! This RIPS. First time listening and I love it. Every fackin' song has been a winner to me so far.

System of a Down - Toxicity

God damn, this album rules pretty hard. So many excellent songs: Atwa, Forest, Jet Pilot, Chop Suey, Needles, Prison Song, Psycho.

Excellent album. Which made RelixIV and Immortallis that much harder to stomach.


Overkill- Down To The Bone

Interesting Accept moment in the breakdown.




+2 A very close second best achievement.

Edit: I just realized it was SC2112 we were talking too. The above sentiment goes TRIPLE for you.

The Overkill thread has inspired me to do the rest of my Overkill homework. I revisited I Hear Black - an album I liked when I first heard it - and this time it totally resonated with me and I bought it so quick. I just finished the entire Killbox 13 album and damn, it's easily a 83%-85% after that first listen.

And I guess I should get my ass into some Blind Guardian, eh?

Agree...way better than I was expecting.

1349 - Hellfire: Intense for a while but eventually I got tired of it. Not for me I guess.

Not much of a BM fan anyway, but I dig pre-Legion Marduk at least.