Finist - For Mankind

Just remembered how awesome this stuff is!
Catchy as hell.

Underoath - Cries of the Past

When you remember that one of the pioneers of the whole emocore thing from the mid-2000s started out as a HEAVILY black metal influenced deathcore band, complete with a black metal-esq band logo.

^Binged the whole Underoath discography a few weeks ago in preparation for seeing with Bring Me the Horizon. Cries of the Past is definitely their best album, up there with They're Only Chasing Safety. I like the debut well enough too, a bit more death metally/mosh heavy, reminds me a lot of All Out War (a huge honor). Though the Christian emo parts are pretty bad.

Really solid band all around, and Spencer's vocals are still in top form. Really love his dramatic, narrative style that transitions from harsh vocals to cleans really well. Would love to see them crank out another album for this reunion.

BMTH - "Home Sweet Hole"

In my eyes, the greatest band the metalcore movement ever produced. Takes the basic Underoath formula and adds a metric shit ton of massive deathcore/groove riffs. They slowly added a bunch of post-rock/ambient/orchestration to their sound and it works really well, blending with the emo vibe and still flowing really well with the heavy parts. Now they're basically a Linkin Park style pop rock/alt metal type band and still fucking killing it. One of the best live performances I've seen in my life.

The first album always gave me a more hardcore vibe, but definitely more on the death metal side of things when we're talking about the metal elements of the album, and the emo parts really do drag down the whole thing quite a bit. Cries of the Past, on the other hand, is pretty much a melodic black metal album with breakdowns and some chunky Pantera riffs here and there. I love it. The lyrics are way, way better too on Cries of the Past.

I can't even imagine how much fun they are live. There is a Hell... is hands down my favourite modern metalcore album (if you can call Sempiternal metalcore though then that album is.) I'm glad they moved away from deathcore, because that first album is nothing special and their first EP sucks. I'd happily take 'Happy Song' over 'Pray for Plagues'.

Interesting, I still love Count Your Blessings a lot, I'd rank it up there with old TBDM, Darkest Hour and As Blood Runs Black as the best of the old guard melodic deathcore sound. Though I would rank Suicide, Sempiternal and Spirit above it. Hell/Heaven is great as well, but it's a bit of transitional style that's edged out by the album before and after it.

Current setlist is exclusively from Sempiternal/Spirit, as expected, with "Chelsea Smile" thrown in there to appease old fans. Lots of people were hoping to hear "Pray for Plagues" but I think that's only reserved for very special occasions at this point. I would highly recommend the live album they did at Albert Royal Hall with the orchestra. Really makes the softer stuff pop out, best "symphonic metal" I've heard. That version of "Antivist" in particular is legendary.

Man, at least forestcorpse is there to save the honor of this page.

NP Black Sabbath - Sabotage

TONY!

I definitely will check out that album. From what I hear they only play stuff from their last two because Oli can't scream anymore; hell I reckon most can't rip out those ridiculous screams for even one minute so that isn't surprising.

I used to think about their third album the same way but really There is a Hell does everything its predecessor did better (and more) to me. I like my deathcore well, heavier and less scattershot; I prefer Whitechapel or Suicide Silence for some old deathcore. Sempiternal is just beautiful though, they'll never top it.

Also Darkest Hour and TBDM are/were deathcore? I have no memory of this? I thought they both became melodeath bands.


Also lol at 'saving the honour of this page' with some shitty NS power metal


Slayer - Show No Mercy

Aldaria - Land of Light

This is good. Wow. If you're a fan of Avantasia or cheesy power metal, listen to this.

Darkest Hour is a melodeath band that at times played to the metalcore crowd a bit too much. The Black Dahlia Murder was never metalcore or deathcore, and they've actually dropped most of the melodeath traits over the last few albums and are pretty much just straight death metal at this point but with some Gothenburg riffs thrown in here or there to remind you that they're still The Black Dahlia Murder. That some people still try to claim that they were, or still are, a metalcore/deathcore band is baffling to me. It's in the same realm as "Pantera stole their sound from Slaughter in the Vatican by Exhorder!". It's just wrong.

yeah yeah we're a broiled ox penis

Well, I consider those "melodic death metal/metalcore" bands in the early 00s to be the first wave of deathcore bands. Then Suicide Silence and Whitechapel show up and replace the melodeath with brutal DM influence.

The fact that metalheads try to "claim" TBDM as pure death metal is baffling to me. That will pass for their new stuff, but back in the day they were the very definition of "fake myspace death metal for gay scene kids". It's amazing how easily people forget. theyve always been a great band, but the trve metal crowd really pulled a 180 on them.

Gonna throw on the new Artificial Brain album sometime tonight.

See, for me, I've always just liked TBDM because I thought they sounded cool. That they were so hated by one segment of the audience was immaterial to me. That they also gradually eschewed melodeath elements in favor of more and more straightforward death metal as the years went on was just a coincidence, although I really like the sound of the last couple albums because they sound so different from their early stuff while still being identifiably the same band.

TBDM has always, since day one, been a straight metal band. They've had what, one breakdown in their career (in the intro to the first album, no less) and no clean vocals ever? They aped At the Gates a bunch for the first few albums and got a little less melodic as time went on but that just stands to reason that, at their worst, they were exactly as metalcore as At the Gates are (which, despite Slaughter of the Soul being such a huge influence on AILD styled metalcore, is "not at all"). I asked here before what metalcore elements they had and the answers I got were "I'm not sure, it just sounds metalcore to me" and "It's kinda like As I Lay Dying without breakdowns and cleans", aka they sound like AILD without the -core parts. The only real thing they ever had going against them was their name and aesthetic. A four word name with a deathcorey logo and very busy, brightly colored -core looking merch plus a band full of dudes with short hair and gauged ears. I really do think a lot of the early vitriol against them was just knee-jerk hatred because metalcore/deathcore was the hot infiltration at the time and they looked like members of that scene despite playing a style of music that's 100% metal. I thought the same thing before I actually listened to them in like 2008, before then they were "just another trendy deathcore band" I had no interest in listening to.

Somebody here even mentioned once that he bought Unhallowed when it came out and he just assumed they were a bunch of dudes with long hair and beards before he actually looked in the booklet. Hating them because you hate melodeath is one thing but I really, honestly do think it was like 95% the fault of their image that it took so long for legit metalheads to start taking them seriously.

Hypocrisy- The Final Chapter

I don't get why this is considered the classic from this album (and a set closer for that matter). One of the weaker songs on here IMO.

I never thought TBDM were -core or whatever and don't care - but I also never liked that band one bit... tried a few songs and could barely make it through any of them. Just not my thing at all, too overproduced, too hyper, lots of 'loud for the sake of being loud' shit going on. Shame because they at least sound like talented riff writers, if only in a style I don't always listen to - but the songwriting just does zilch for me. Lyrics seemed interesting too.

I've also seen two horrible movies about the real Black Dahlia case, so I guess I just hate anything about that case even with the name alone.

Demon Bitch - Hellfriends

Fucking A.

One of my top 10 all time favorite albumss. It doesn't have a single moment and the amount and emotion and effort that was put into this was pretty damn amazing

R.C. - Coronation of the Serpent

Aka "how to use a ton of melody in an extreme metal record and win on every possible front"

Wolves in the Throne Room - A Looming Resonance

I almost forgot how perfect this song is. My all time favorite WitTR song.

Vampire - With Primeval Force

This is pretty lethal - it has riffs, it has melodies, it has Venom-ish aggression... a tad too polished, maybe. But these guys can definitely write a blasted good song.

Emblem - Emblem.
http://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Emblem/3540425875

One the best albuns i heard this year...just for who loves real Heavy Metal.

https://emblem709.bandcamp.com/releases

Obituary - A Lesson in Vengeance

This album is more vital than the previous ones, quite the thrashy attitude. Not bad.

Sabbat - Black Fire

Where it all began. The Venom influence was more prominent at this stage, but it still has its own character. Though they weren't as influential as Bathory, it's notable that both bands were formed in 1983.



Definitely agree. Inked in Blood was a huge disappointment, but Obituary is strong. I even like the artwork (the shiny, embossed cover makes it even better).

I downloaded their free Christmas single back in the winter and dig it quite a bit. I've been meaning to pick up the full length. I'm friends with one of the guys who played bass for a few of the songs. Perhaps it's time I buy it!

I was listening to Sonata Arctica's latest album on my way to work this morning.

Lunar Shadow - Hadrian Carrying Stones

Wearing out my freebies on bandcamp before the vinyl version of this excellent, excellent album arrives ! If you need some decent guitar work in your life after a period if interchangeable 'chugga chugga', get this

Black Sabbath - Dehumanizer

I'm hungry, tired and I really want to go home

Toxic Holocaust - Bitch

"The Bitch will be burned at the stake..." 'Nuff said.

Gothic death doom of the grandest halls

Boney M. - Rasputin, off Nightflight to Venus

Yo, disco beats are cool.

Dispirit - Separation

Riot- Feel The Same

What a bitchin slow jam.

Slayer - South Of Heaven

I put this album and Hell Awaits over Reign In Blood. There is just something more about the melodies of this album and the brutal atmosphere of Hell Awaits that Reign In Blood just can't touch.

Skeletal Spectre - Tomb Coven

I got this because it was a buy two get one free sale on used CDs and I couldn't see anything else that piqued my interest. Wasn't expecting much as this is a Razorback release, but am pleasantly surprised so far. Good death/doom.

Discharge - Hear Nothing...

Not an album, but a sonic revolution.

^^That is one marvellous fucking record. Just great.

NP:
The Doomsday Kingdom - The Doomsday Kingdom
Standard Leif Edling. Nothing spectacular, but there are a couple of good songs on it. Oh, and the vocals are a really nice change from the epic tones of Candlemass and the silky female vocals of Avatarium.

Vulvagun - Instant Hate Response

This is an addictive album... full of super complex, intricate songs that rock the fuck out.

Iron Maiden - A Matter of Life and Death

My favorite Maiden album.

Saxon - Midnight Rider

...because 8 am rider wasn't as catchy.

Priestess - Hello Master

Hello, childhood gaming memories.

Tormentor - Branded with Satan

This song rips so fucking hard. This demo rips so fucking hard. If you want to hear early Maiden and early Bathory thrown in a blender this is the place to be.

The Ocean - Precambrian

Awesome!