Agree to disagree, Woolie_Wool, fairly much on everything you just said (bar some of the songs you cited).

He has some moments where he is very close to Midnight... Thanks
Anybody else with suggestions?

Forget your hate for Shadowmaker... Here's Blazon Stone for you all.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqJUn04COnA

Listening to Wotan's debut again, and I'm scratching my head as to what I was smoking to make me think the 1993 demo was better than this. Sure, the vocalist has some oddities, but this is damn good stuff.

Lengthy and really cool interview with Scalzi! (FOR YOU, EMPY!)
Love the man!
http://www.sfbg.com/noise/2010/11/08/sl ... philosophy

Man, he's seriously one of my idols. I don't listen to as much Slough Feg now, after wearing out a lot of their albums, but whenever I do play em they still sound awesome. And Scalzi is just great.

I don't get the little "hate" over Gamma Ray. I mean, the guy's have put some excellent material over the years. Extremely consistent albums if i must add(except the last one). I absolutely love NWO and Majestic, and of course, LOFT and SOIS are classics.

Did anybody heppen to hear "Max Magagni - Twister" album? In some way it is similar to "Emir Hot - Sevdah Metal" album.
I would like to know if there is anything similar. I believe it is influenced by classic heavy metal and hard rock of 80's, power metal and blues.
Could you please recommend me something and do not forget to mention if you heard those two albums I have mentioned. Thanks in advance.
(appreciated: catchy, high pitched vocals, acoustic parts, drum solos...)

This week I have mostly been eating: King Diamond's The Spider's Lullaby.

Honestly, this album was a pleasant surprise for me. The song's are generally very good and it's refreshing to hear King take the "short story" approach to writing on this album (sometimes whole album concepts can get a bit laboured, although, King normally does quite well even with ridiculous plots). I didn't actually know that most of this was written in 1991, so that perhaps explains why it's good stuff (perhaps it could have been even better with an early 1990s production job). There's a few later KD albums I still need to give a chance (Voodoo and House of God in particular), but this is definitely the best of his post-The Eye material.

House of God has what might as well be one of his best concepts (picture religious conspiracies + cosmic horror), but it's also quite average in the songwriting department. It has a couple of pretty good songs, but it's far from his zenith.

Just saw this on another forum and it officially blows. Jeff Ulmer of Sacred Blade/Othyrworld passed away, R.I.P.

Fuck. He created some of the most mystical and incredible metal I know of, and Beyond into the Night of Day is one of my all-time favorite albums. Checking out their/his Facebook page it looks like a new one was in progress too. RIP.

Agreed. Why I like those albums, is the imagination put into them, the arrangements and the lyrics. I haven't listened to SOIS in a while.

I must do so, because every time I hear it it puts a stupid grin on my face. I mean, Shine on, cheesy but so good.

Double fuck. I hadn't really expected anything new to come out, but that didn't stop me from hoping. RIP.

Scalzi was rude when I saw them live tried to talk to him but he brushed me off (could have been because they were on a tight schedule though).

That is, until I yelled "SKULLFUCKER, FUCK HER IN THE HEAD" because one of the guitarists was wearing a Brocas shirt. Scalzi went on a rant about how the Brocas guys were old enough to be my grandparents, and he was old enough to be my uncle. Then he started calling himself Uncle Mike.

Ended up smoking a J with the bassist Adrian though, he was nice. We talked about Rainbow!

Yeah, a few weeks ago I had NWO on repeat. So damn catchy. I even appreciate LOTF2 for what it is. Some tracks have corny as hell lyrics, but it's alright. Lyrics usually never bother me. It's strange, but vocalists like Kai Hansen amazes me, in a way. It's the same with Dave Mustaine. They are far from the best singers, yet they have immensley interesting vocal melodies. The melodies themselves are enough for me to love the vocals. I mean, the bridge in "Solid" from NWO has amazing vocal lines for example. There you've got what I'm talking about.

Was this a new event? I feel like I've read this exact story a couple years ago, but from the perspective of another fan in the audience, with the same Skullfucker thing happening.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6w4RfoUv9KU

Wow. I knew the new album wasn't going to be that great, but this is pretty bad. La Torre sounds fine, but that production is awful. No breathing room, everything sounds all mushed together. The song writing isn't much better. You have the heavy chug chug for the "metal" parts and the faceless chords that back the chorus. It's basically a heavier HitNF.

They were never an inch as good as Crimson Glory.*

I won't deny that Tate was awesome, but to be perfectly honest I feel like that style of melodic vocalists is kind of my least favorite. Dunno how to explain it though and that's probably weird coming from me haha, but I've felt like that for a long time now. Michael Kiske kind of fits that mold I think, though in his case it doesn't help that there's no passion at all.

Think I just prefer if vocals are higher pitched than that or the opposite route and gruff, like JD Kimball, or the insane ones who can still hit those piercing notes like Conklin, Glen May, and Anthony C. Lionetti III. But there's no question I'd take people like Midnight, Cyriis, John Arch, Rivera, Halford, etc, over the Tate style. Maybe it's just because he and the few like that are so reserved on the shrieking. Actually yeah that's probably exactly why. Enchanter's Brian Osborne is probably the ultimate comparison I can think of, his voice sounds very much like Tate's, but the way he sings is completely different and way more badass in the long run to me.

Very random but maybe others can weigh in on that? maybe failsafe or others can digest the technical differences. lol

*Early Queensryche is fine in my book.

New Satan track is Destroying me. So good:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=9y-T-K5ehwI#!

Yeah, I was never a big Tate fan, his voice always seemed too generic, although that could be because so many people tried to imitate him (Lethal, Damien Steele, Screamer, etc.), plus I don't much like the 'Ryche. The EP and a couple of songs from O:M are about all I can get into nowadays. The pioneered a good style with their EP, they just haven't released much of any quality material in that style. I'd rather listen to one of the more astute followers in their footsteps, like Crimson Glory or Laissez Faire or some such stuff. I guess I listen to FW clones more than anything else though. Steel Prophet, Chozzen Phate, Enchanter, Ice Vinland, Psychotic Waltz, etc. That's how I like my white collar USPM.

It's not great, but this is miles and miles (and miles and miles) better than American Soldier and Dedicated to Chaos.

Tate was anything but generic (the amount of imitators that cropped up after his band rose to popularity are just that; imitators), and his strengths simply relied on the fact that he was, well, a damn good singer; power, range, personality..... He had it all. The key to his success was balance. Xeogred; you see the fact that he didn't shriek often as a disadvantage, while I think the opposite. By unleashing his most powerful wails only once in a while, Tate made each and every one of them count. Still, I won't disagree with anyone who says that either Arch or Midnight are better, because while Tate was an all around impressive performer, those dudes' voices are simply transcendent.

What

Yeah, I've listened to this a few dozen times and counting at this point. I really hope that the whole album is like this track. Court in the Act honestly does nothing for me beyond Trial by Fire and Blades of Steel, and this song is very much in the mold of the former (right down the war theme, too, it would seem) to the point of even having a guitar bit reminiscent of it. I'm realistically fearing/expecting another Riot - Immortal Soul situation, though. But I'd sure love to be wrong. As it is, though, this is probably the best new song I've heard all year.

As far as Tate goes, it's true that there were quite a few imitators, but you can generally tell that they're imitators. In fact, this tends to apply to Queensryche clones in general.



I don't tend to mind his lack of shrieking that much, and his stronger moments often draw on the ability to smoothly transition between or hold pitches while maintaining a sense of control, as in 'Neue Regel' or this rendition of 'I Will Remember.' The lack of more extreme shifts probably complements this, while evidently Conklin's higher shifts have a completely different aim (except perhaps on Titan Force, but that's not one of his finer moments). 'Eternal World'-style vocals wouldn't quite work if you're not going for the same type of darker, aggressive quarter-blue USPM, and in Queensryche's case it feels like if they had been slightly more consistent and had a better idea of where they wanted to go then Tate's vocal style wouldn't have been a problem, and indeed could have enhanced it in a way which more USPM-esque vocals wouldn't have.

I'm not sure that I would really compare Tate with Kiske, although Todd La Torre is perhaps closer to that direction.


I can sympathise somewhat when it comes to Queensryche; I'm not sure that they really put out any albums which were more than a few good/great tracks and a bunch of mediocre/poor ones, including the first EP. In addition, compared to, say, Crimson Glory, they were always a lot more reliant on Tate to stand out; however, after achieving success with O:M, they ended up going in a similarly chorus-centric direction with Empire, which prevented them from really making use of his vocals during their stronger period, or extending on what they had started with RfO. Promised Land is probably the least reliant on Tate's vocals per se (albeit of necessity), but it has its own brand of somewhat directionless ballad among probably the most interesting musical ideas that the band had tried. The main difference between those and, say, DtC, is probably more a matter of how weak the weaker tracks are, although given that they're not worth listening to in either case (and QR are a song-based band) I'm not sure it makes a massive difference.

That said, though, while consistency is definitely good insofar as it contributes towards the coherence of an album, QR albums aren't going to be that coherent anyway due to generally being song-based (PL is the exception as far as the main tracks go, but as for the filler), so it doesn't have quite as pronounced an effect. It still seems that what QR were doing on their stronger pieces has a fairly unique flavour and, while they don't quite fulfill the potential suggested by these, it does feel that at the time of, say, RfO or PL, if they had sat down and thought about things a bit more, or continued with the style for an album or two to refine it, they could have come up with a really good album, which is more than can be said for most bands. They stand out in principle, if not always in execution. That said, if you were to create a compilation of their best tracks from along their career (not just the albums up to PL, either, necessarily; DtC, for example, certainly has some interesting tracks which draw on the PL formula, although as usual not in the majority), I'm not sure that they would lose that much from being taken out of the context of their albums.


Quite promising, although I'm not quite sold on the chorus. It's generally an issue when you have to rip yourself off, but in this case it's done fairly decently.


Just as a marginal note, I don't think you can count Psychotic Waltz as an FW clone, and if anything they would probably be closer to progressive metal than white collar USPM (whereas early Fates stand on the opposite side of that divide.)

Edit: I notice that FSF got to that one first.

Eh, I was a bit high when I wrote it. Just meant to say they take a lot of infliuence from FW.

[/quote]
Yeah, a few weeks ago I had NWO on repeat. So damn catchy. I even appreciate LOTF2 for what it is. Some tracks have corny as hell lyrics, but it's alright. Lyrics usually never bother me. It's strange, but vocalists like Kai Hansen amazes me, in a way. It's the same with Dave Mustaine. They are far from the best singers, yet they have immensley interesting vocal melodies. The melodies themselves are enough for me to love the vocals. I mean, the bridge in "Solid" from NWO has amazing vocal lines for example. There you've got what I'm talking about.[/quote]

Funny you say that, I always thought of gamma ray as the power metal version of power metal megadeth due to the similar story to them but both are great bands and thought they were better then the band the band leader came from (helloween/metallica).

So this is my weak spot. Not the biggest power metal guy and may not truly be a fan of the genre but their are specific bands I like. Most may not really be considered 100% power metal but are in some way. I like heavier power metal bands. More thrash/power or prog power than on the heavy metal side. Some stuff if not most is really just thrash with clean vocals. That may be what i am really looking for but I feel as if I would get a better response from the Power Metal crowd than the Thrash Circle. I dont want catatonic raw thrashers with falsettos. Any time I try my luck those are the majority of the responses I get. Some examples of what I am trying to describe are Futures End, Manticora, Teramaze, Edgend, Paradox, Helstar, Heathen, Artillery. Thats all I can really think of right now. Lower register riffs, faster paced, blistering solos, aggressive riffs, darker lyrics, etc. The more modern the better. I dont know where to find this type of stuff but when I stumble across these type of bands I love it. Any one have any suggestions?

My computer is broken and I am posting from my iPhone so please ignore any and all errors.

Power metal is my favorite genre but my favorite kind of power metal is the heavier stuffm i would recommend iced earth's first 3 albums, blind guardian's first 5 albums (though all their stuff is good), persuader, grave digger.

persuader- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBYmRtYYhNI
Blind Guardian-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BP49gxxBCzU
Iced Earth-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkG8PRazlcs
Grave digger-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PorO6Lqq6kQ
Hopes this helps.

I failed to mention that I am familiar with Iced Earth, Blind Guardian, and Grave Digger. However I never heard of PerSuader. Pretty good stuff. Thanks for suggesting them.

I was aware that Blind Guardian released a complete anthology, but I hadn't realized the albums had all been either remastered or remixed entirely. Can anyone comment on the quality of these versions vs. the originals? I always thought Battalions Of Fear would sound interesting remastered.

Also, the new Queensryche song is completely terrible. I've always avoided modern-era 'Ryche like the plague, and it seems I was well justified in doing so! Yuck

Well, my version of Somewhere Far Beyond is remastered, and it sounds damn good. It's heavy as hell, yet also slick, and you can easily pick up every single detail. I can't complain about it, really. Plus, the cover versions of Satan's Trial by Fire and Queen's Spread Your Wings are a nice bonus

What did everyone make (or those that like the band) think off Gamma Rays new single/e.p. "Master of Conufsion"?

I havent heard the whole thing yet but "Empire of the Undead" is a great return to form (which still gives me hope they still have another really good album in them) and the title track is fine.

That's the version of SFB I have as well, and the production is fucking fantastic. The covers aren't too shabby either

Could you guys recommend me some real sleazy sounding heavy/speed metal like motorhead meets trad metal? I know it's not really a good description but it's the best I got. My birthday's tomorrow and I need some metal I can drink a beer too haha thanks in advance guys.

Check out Dark Wizard and Witchgrave. Only Motorhead-ish trad metal I can think of.

Which bands would you guys recommend that have a sound similar to Manilla Road, you know traditional trashy sounding with an epic feel to it? Thanks in advance.

Peer Günt
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BGW8_8DByk

Witchgrave was pretty awesome I'd like alittle but more intelligible vocals but they were great. Haven't listened to peer gunt yet but their wiki page says they're hard rock?