It's pretty good, yeah, but it's like 25 years old.

New Angel Witch


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVXv97cB ... r_embedded

That sounded decent, if a bit unremarkable. Besides, the vocals are nothing to write home about.

Agreed. It was pretty good,but lacks the charm of their older material.

The vocal melody was quite ordinary indeed, but the guitars were really good, I'm looking forward to the whole thing.

The song itself is bloated and kind of dull but I think there was a quite solid 4 minute song in there. The vocals were decent enough, it's not like NWOBHM was ever known for its vocal prowess anyway. If the rest of the album is more concise I could see it being good.

Unfortunately that's probably wishful thinking and the album will be dull

17% of my posts are in here!

Unfortunately I don't have much to report, except the new Christian Mistress, which is quite good. Got the new Hyborian Steel, haven't listened, kind of a third-rate band based on the other album.

Where can you tell? I know I can click on someone's username and see there, but not for myself.

34.03% over here...... didn't think it would be that high haha.


So any of you guys here the new Ram album, Death?

I think it has to do with your session being 'hidden'. I can't see mine either, even if I use another profile to look.

So FSM has a secret profile to interact with the plebs, huh?

To stay on topic, I'm in that rediscovering mood. Been listening to Accident of Birth by Bruce Dickenson and Angel Witch by...Angel Witch.

Dickinson* Bruce's name deserves to be well written!

But yeah, sweet album. His solo stuff is very good, some say will say it's better than later Maiden and they wouldn't be wrong. Tyranny of Souls is killer, I wish he would do another one soon.

Stop correcting me.

I still haven't heard Chemical Wedding or Tyranny of Souls yet even though I've had Accident for quite some time now. The gap between CW and ToS was about 7 years and it's been roughly 7 years since ToS...maybe soon? I doubt it, but hopefully he and Roy Z can get together sometime in the near future.

I need a power, heavy, speed or thrash band that make some Flamenco interludes in their songs... Or something like Impureza but with clean vocals please

Both CW and ToS are excellent.

Try the first WICKED MYSTIC album! Great stuff.

I'd like a progressive power metal rec done right, something close to Control Denied; technical, ballsy, and at some points, haunting.

Damn, Forte is seriously kicking my ass today! I wish there was more good quality power/speed/thrash out there, there are a handful of bands but that combo has such a load of potential. Well, time to break out some Realm and Holy Terror, I guess. And I still need to check out those Texas metal bands, Militia and Oblivion Knight and Assalant, I've heard good things about them, what are your guys' opinions of them?

I'm still having my mind blown by Legend (NWOBHM, not From the Fjords) every time I spin the s/t or Death in the Nursery. For what I assume was a pretty young band at the time, in a pretty young scene, they really knew how to build up a mood with each song. I love when they go full charge with the riffs, everything sounds like its just teetering on the edge of falling apart. The vocal work is also really dramatic and awesome. The way he delivers the hook to Hiroshima is just so cool.

Heard a lot of good things about Forte from various people here and in the chat. Gonna have to give them a chance soon I reckon.

The first time I heard Stranger than Fiction, not too long ago, it blew my mind. Had to go write a review

As I did with the demo, lol.

Man Fates Warning... what the fuck, I still can't comprehend how they evolved as they did after listening to the Arch stuff again today. I also still can't quite see how people can only like one of the two big Arch albums, but it's still hilarious how different the moods are for them when I go back to them. Finally I was totally feeling Awaken again today (maybe because of the very obvious SA influence as you guys were saying, since I've been big on them lately), and then I wasn't feeling Spectre one bit, lol (although I always love "The Apparition"). I was digging Arch's vocals more on Awaken too for the day.

The differences are still pretty unexplainable and subtle, but definitely there. Awaken feels a bit darker, guitars seem lower key and chunkier. There was a lot of weird tone drops I noticed this time as well, which SA does too and some other bands... but not often. Is there a term for this at all? 2:48 into "The Sorceress" for example. No idea what's going on with the guitars there, but I love that stuff. I think there's better drops somewhere, but yeah it always stands out on that song a lot to me.

Be sure to pick up the Divebomb Records reissue/remaster of Stranger than Fiction - it comes bundled with both of their demos (Dementia by Design and the 1990 one), and the remaster really is fantastic.

I forgot about their 1991 demo, looks like it's just more material that appeared on the debut... but hearing it with a different mix is probably cool.

It's a *really* different mix, and certainly worth hearing. It's a great package, as a whole, and really even without the bonus material it's worth it just for the drastically improved audio quality.

Holy terror's mind wars is seriously destroying me today. head banging injuries will definitely ensue. I love this fucking album

Same here.

And Pharaoh = Megaman metal.

Is that good or bad?

I need to check out this Forte, apparently they're up my alley.

Rocking Tad Morose - Undead right now though. Still rules! Ancient tomb raiding metal if I ever heard it.

Well, it's a weird mystery to me as well. You might hate me for saying this, but I hit up "The Longest Night" and "Be Gone" today again and their guitar style seems to have a lot of semi-core-like tendencies to me, with the leads and stuff. Really reminds me of some of the junk I used to hear from friends a lot years ago, but at the same time the vocalist and the songs themselves stay metal. I can't even explain it, but basically I'm not faulting them for this strangeness since they pull it off well and I loved every minute of those albums.

I think I even liked "Be Gone" a bit more today, which seems to be rated lower here.

The vocalist totally reminds me a bit of Sabbat's Martin Walkyier, not nearly as fucking insane or angry, but he's got that awesome grit.

I guess I can see where you'd hear core tendencies, as a lot of modern bands seem to rely on a lot of leads and harmonies and whatnot, but I'd just say that's their own individual thing and that they're pretty firmly based in USPM - just doing their own style, if that makes sense. Glad you enjoyed both though. I've probably said a number of times around here how much I like both of their albums. I'm pretty much a fanboy of theirs these days. Just dig their constantly challenging and unique metal.

Yeah, I mean they're ballsier than Tad Morose I might say.

I have the debut on my ipod too, probably going to listen to that one tomorrow.

The only Pharaoh album I really like is The Longest Night. The others just don't do it for me.

Tad Morose rule, though.

I'm listening to Stormbringer's Stealer of Souls demo again, and really there's nothing else that sounds like this. It's just so damn cool. I guess it sort of resembles Talisphere, and maybe there's a bit of Omen in there, too, but it's just really fucking distinctive. It's interesting how the emphasis of the lead guitar isn't really on "solos" in the traditional sense, rather it often just sort of sits there in the background doing really cool atmospheric stuff. This is probably my favorite of the 90's USPM demo bands.

I'd say Lords of the Crimson Alliance is comparable, fuzzy guitars included. Just a difference in vocals, but yeah those two are way out there. Still sucks their follow up EP is pretty crappy and not nearly as epic if I remember right.

Eh, LotCA is a lot more "traditional" and melodic, I'd say. Stormbringer have this really unique, dark atmosphere going on. I can't quite put my finger on what makes it so instantly identifiable, but it's certainly something unlike any other band I can think of.

The EP sucks, yeah. No idea what happened there.

I have to say that although I still really enjoy that Stormbringer album, I'm not a huge fan of the singer. Something about his style just sounds kind of forced and flat to me. Still good stuff though, "Stormbringer" is a kickass song.

As for Tad Morose and Pharaoh, meh. Neither one has ever really clicked with me, the riffs just seem really weak in both cases. A modern band I have been enjoying lately though is Solitary Sabred. Their debut is really cool, out there epic metal, and the singer sounds crazy as fuck but definitely awesome, really unique stuff right there.

I gotta say, the Vicious Rumors debut is growing on me quite a bit. The production is really soft and muddy, but there's some really kickass material buried beneath it. Nice old school bluesy/hard rock style riffing combined with a loud and proud metal attitude. Reminds me of a simpler Helstar, especially the singer.

I know exactly what you mean about the production/mix. I got it a few weeks ago and listened to a few seconds of the first track then backburnered it. Usually those end up being my favorites though, just because you have to listen so hard and pick up the nuances. I'll give it a proper chance today I think since I'm home sick.

Wooooord up to the Stormbringer talk. I think it was Xeo that put me onto Stealer of Souls. I like it so much I was contemplating buying a tape copy for an absurd price, ended up not. Great riffing, weird ass guitar sound, really great and emotional vocals. Its a damn shame they didn't do more in that vein.

Alright so I'm spinning Soldiers of the Night with headphones and it's definitely helping to negate the mush. This album kicks ass, straight up. The riffing is more streamlined than I was expecting but not in a bad way. This is just great chest-thumping heavy metal. How great is March or Die? God damn! Oh and these boys can shred their ass off. Didn't realize there was a Shrapnel records association but I'm not surprised a bit.

edit: Booooo Invader. I kept thinking it was going to launch into something cool. I don't condone that track. The rest is all killer though. Some of the riffing reminds me of Ample Destruction.

Hey, this is interesting, Drakkar (Bel), who put out one of my favorite 80's underdog heavy/speed albums, are active again it seems. they released only the one album (X-rated) that was pretty quirky, but a fun listen to none the less. They just released a remastered version of the album with a few un-released tracks and of course I ordered it right away. Their official website also says a new album is in the works, and under the 'The speed metal masters' moniker no less.....Well we will just have to see about that when the time comes won't we. heres hoping they succeed under that ambitious title.

http://www.drakkar-band.com/

You guys heard the Tarot from Germany who only released 1 demo?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZ-s7QE3imc

good stuff.

I think the Stormbringer singer is the best part about them, he literally sounds like a wolf or something with some of the screams. Reminds me a lot of ... well hilariously enough, the "Wolf" guy from early Tramontane.

Well I don't know about you guys but I think "Soldiers of the Night" has one of the best damn productions hands down for 1986. It's all perfect to me too, love "Invader", the whole thing continues to kick my ass for years. Doesn't have the legendary Carl and it's fairly different from their stuff that followed, and has the big Vinnie Moore touch with the shredding, but damn it's still probably my favorite. Just creates a killer cool atmosphere.

Also kind of funny listening to Solitude Aeturnus after a lot of Fates Warning ATG again... ATG is so much "busier", haha. Even though I'd totally agree the influences in SA are totally there. But wow ATG is kicking my ass again lately.