Whatever their last album was ended up as overblown and weak. It could see that they were trying to branch out to be something bigger and broader than thrash but it just didn't do anything for me. Space opera? I dunno, it wasn't any good. I saw them at Eindhoven Metal Meeting in 2015 and they were pretty good there, they have potential, I guess?

In term of composition yes Vektor always plays Vektor, but at the same time their formula was so unique at the beginning of the band's career, with the odd compositions and atmospheres plus their hyper-characteristic scream that I don't pretty much mind about it, actually less than a very basic thrash band like Ultra-Violence or Violator. But when it comes to the albums themselves yes, I pretty much agree with you. That's the thing I would reproach Vektor, actually. By dint of willing to make the most complex song, they've come to a point where it is actually pretty hard to follow them if you aren't at the same level as they are in terms of guitar skills of music theory or anything else. I was also a bit disappointed by TR when it came out, Outer Isolation was the perfect album to me but the more I listened to it the better it appeared, and still today there are some things that I didn't analyze.

For the drama I rather think it's the opposite, as he fired everyone (actually I have no proof so if you've one on what you said you're right). Let's hope that doesn't affect to much the quality of its music.

How much do those Vektor/Obliveon comparisons hold true? I'm not familiar enough with Vektor to say. Needless more people should be listening to From This Day Forward!

I was actually very disappointed with From this Day Forward. The mix is terrible, I hear guitars with a lot of difficulty and the songs... go on... without anything great to notice... like a toilet paper roll that goes down the stairs. The thing makes its life and you look at it saying... yeah. Okay.

I can honestly say I do really, really want to like Vektor, as I love technical stuff and I love thrash. At first the vocals were a problem: DiSanto's scream grated on me to no end, but then I got used to them and discovered that I thought the music was a bit of a mishmash of different ideas which didn't do a whole lot for me. Terminal Redux was maybe slightly above average though, so they're going somewhere.

I don't much care for Individual Thought Patterns either; a right shame considering the adoration I have for the work of both Chuck Schuldiner and Gene Hoglan. Human did the whole progressive thing infinitely better (Cynic are a good band also (at least on Focus they are); they are more song-oriented prog, rather than the forcible combining of different parts and ideas)

Does anyone have a hard time giving a metal album a bad review? Even if the album is average, I think it should get a rating of 79-80%. The first metal album I ever hated was by Evil's Revenge of Iron and Thunder. That was the worst fucking release I've ever heard.

...I have to ask: have you heard "The Unspoken King" ?????

It's that bad, huh? I should give it a listen. Every release by Cryptopsy that I've listened to has Lord Worm on it.

Nope, if an album sucks then it sucks, regardless of genre. Just because me, and you, and this forum prefers metal it doesn't mean that some atrocities haven't sneaked out over the years. Maybe you've been insanely lucky to have only heard good metal

EDIT: Wow, that came out in a dickish and patronising way. 'Twas merely intended as tongue in cheek, Conqueror.

It's all good deathdoom1992. It's actually kind of subjective anyways.

I still maintain that the first 3 songs of The Unspoken King are quite good, and if the album had continued in that vein, it would've been a passable album. However, track 4 really highlights the downfall of the album and it doesn't really recover after that. It's unfortunate but that's why it kind of sucks. Personally they redeemed themselves on the self-titled follow up.

Bemoan the Martyr is an absolute boner killer of a song in every single way. Despite not being anywhere near the level of anything on the first two albums, Worship Your Demons, The Headsman, and Silence the Tyrants were all good enough songs in their own right, even with the obvious deathcore elements hitting you right in the face the whole time. Bemoan starts off bad, gets worse almost immediately, and the album almost completely tanks thereafter. The only songs after that point that are in any way interesting are Leach (which is also the only song on The Unspoken King where the clean vocals actually work), and Anoint the Dead (straight ripping tech death, if a bit scattershot in its structure, although that same criticism can be spoken for basically every song on the album). It also really does not help that the album just plain sounds like shit. The guitars are overpowered by literally everything else in the mix except the keyboards, few times they appear as they do, the bass tone is like something out of a Gerald McBoing-Boing cartoon, the vocals are super dry and loud, the guitar tone itself is complete garbage, and the mix as a whole is just too fucking loud and self-suffocating. It's just not a good album overall, even with a few of the songs being okay, as the bad parts completely outweigh the few goods to be found.

Also, that clean vocal radio rock section of Bound Dead is among the most laughable, embarrassing parts of any metal song I've ever heard in my life. It's so lifeless and empty, but they're trying so hard to sound epic and moving. It's amazing in the worst possible way.

That's probably because a certain top percentile tend to be what ends up having enough of a reputation that you hear of it. Bands of a certain renown beyond internet infamy tend to have a certain level of creativity and quality. It took me half a dozen years of listening to thousands of bands with no significance beyond being bound to an administrative task on this site to realize that there was a lot of unexceptional and unrealized music out there, as well as stuff that was simply terrible. Here's a few examples I've come across for reference:

Cosmo Awen: Clear but minimal production which does the band no favors, but presents it as a mere demonstration of the bare bones of a band who was emulating Samael circa Blood Ritual. The end result is not good, but with some reflection I was able to realize what they were trying to do, and how the songs had been creatively written and worked over to an extent, just not at the production stage.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBXtCAMeIZA

Jason Saulnier: Basically an audition tape for a one-dimensional guitarist looking for a full band, because he really can't pull together complete songs on his own. The guitar work holds it together in a way - it isn't great, but it has a certain style - and the rest of it is pieced together around that.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ox6xLcqMToo

Granatus: Seriously, you think Evil is bad? This is the real bottom of the barrel... Warning, this is probably the worst sounding thing you'll ever hear outside Depressive Illusions Records or AM radio through a distortion pedal at 8kbps.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Rfhk2JL7MI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sx6G4U7yL5k

Lol, it took me a moment to realize the music started and it wasn't just some white noise before the music.... For a bland and dull piece of white noise its not that bad...I wouldn't listen to it again, but I was expecting worse. At least it didn't inflict harm upon my ears like some stuff I overhear people playing on the radio.

I think Reek of Putrefaction should get a higher rating. Plus, Carcass are the godfathers of goregrind.

Just walked back from the Ghost show in Milwaukee, it was cut an hour short and the rumor is someone died in the pit. I was up in the balcony so I didn't see personally, but they made everyone leave after stating "a terrible tragedy has occurred".

Just found this: https://www.cbs58.com/news/show-canceled-at-riverside-theater-after-fan-passes-out-needs-cpr

Yeah, Geoffry Rush was Brilliant.

But being serious, I thnik having a long term band is quite hard. Either lineup changes, creative direction doesnt' blend (who leads to point one) or if they keep the roots, people get bored. Writting a new album is hard (I've been trying it for a couple of years) but from what I've seen the perfect formula is having the right people with a balanced level of creative and integration, and they blend new stuff, respecting the roots. That's why there are few bands who never go wrong. But in the other hand I bet it's sad to realize when you lost the north, specially for this kind of music, people doit for the joy, it's hard to make a business of it. I think that's the reason I don't write reviews (besides being lazy and people mocking of my engrish)

Being that said, Cryptosy screwed big time, but it's good they got to recover

The official Ghost FB page stated that the man died after having being carried out of the show. I don't know what happened though.

That guy must have been an old headbanger for the M.E. to call it natural causes.

This is such a strange place to die. I mean especially in Ghost concerts where the music isn't particularly aggressive and so is the public. "Natural cause"... I guess it was a heart attack.

I'm a handsome six-foot sculpture of flesh and blubber, and my username has been the same since I left the army in 1991. There's an interesting story behind both of those facts.

Agreed. Been on a wicked goregrind kick lately and it’s driving me nuts as nobody around here seems to give a crap about goregrind. Tried finding some Reek style albums off the beaten path and so far my favorite is Xysma’s demos. Also nabbed Necrony reissues, Pathologist reissues, Dead Infection, early Disgorge, and Last Days of Humanity. Bbbuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuurrrrrrrrpp!!!!

Man, the opening parts of Youth Gone Wild by Skid Row and Too Young to Fall in Love by Motley Crue are really similar. Only just noticed it.

This is totally word of mouth but a guy I knew at the concert was standing close to the guy who died and he overheard the mans wife/girlfriend say he had heart problems. My girlfriend and I were wondering if the heat exacerbated any condition he might have had, it was extremely hot in the venue and the pit must have been much worse.

Of course, Skid Row's much better; by virtue of being Skid Row and not Motley Crue.

Today I meant to say "You too" to someone, and I ended up saying "Youtube"

Show off.

Very much disagree, but Slave To The Grind is a pretty good tune.

Some years ago I bought something at a store. After paying I imagined the cashier would say ''have a nice day'' like they usually do. Instead she said ''goodbye'' to which I responded with ''you too''.

Time to move to Brazil.

Last night I dreamed I spoke with Johan Edlund from Tiamat. He claimed that The Astral Sleep is the best Swedish death metal album of all time. I asked why he doesn't play songs from that album anymore then and he tried to convince me that they've been playing that album in its entirely for very little crowds recently.

I'm in Nice, France, with the daughters, sitting on the balcony of a pretty nice flat we got for relatively little money through a work mate. The flight was so badly delayed that we couldn't find an open store when we finally got here, except a tiny and hellishly expensive liquor store, and thus, I'm having coffee, chili peanuts and Hoegaarden for breakfast.

There was a bit of thunder during the night, and I had to help a tiny bat out of the room. He was scared and cute.

Nice is wonderful! If you can, definitely go see some of the places up in the mountains, like Aspremont, or maybe even the pyramid of Falicon, if you fancy a little hike. It's not much a pyramid, but the hike is nice. And be careful not to fall down into the pit!

The best pizza I've ever had was in Nice. Mind, I haven't been in Italy, other than the centre of Milano quite briefly (we did have pizza there).

It's my fourth time here, and unfortunately we have only three days with the kids. Then I'll send them home and go to work at DataCloud Europe conference in Monaco. But the plan is to have fun here, and take the local train to Monaco and then to Ventimiglia in Italy, just to see places. No time for the mountains, unfortunately.

If anyone on tha MA is around, drop me a line.

Ahhhh Nice. The inevitable Russian pilgrimage. I did the same Nice - Ventimiglia vacation trip as a child (actually started from Marseille). I have great memories from the French side, but Ventimiglia was nothing special at this time.

Well, hate to go to less fond memories of France, but...
Anthony Bourdain committed suicide in France.

What the hell?! That's terrible... RIP!

Sad. I hope he rest in peace.

New Yob album's out today and it sounds great on my first listen. I just saw them two weeks ago in Vancouver and the new material was incredible live. What a band.

Today I sat at a gym / choregraphy children recital at some school.. 2 hrs of amateur gymnastics based choregraphies on various super-hero themes.. at some point I was bored out of my mind, and noticed this kid dressed as Iron Man getting center "stage".

I started dreaming of the Iron Man movie trailer.. thinking.. boy I could use some Black Sabbath now !

Then I notice a bunch of other kids dressed in other Marvel characters, walking at a slow, robotic pace.. converging towards Iron Man

The school crappy (but loud) P.A. started letting out a familiar drum beat at the same pace:

thud.. thud.. thud.. thud..

thud.. thud.. thud.. thud..

and then a chord, then :

"I... AM ... I.. RON ... MAN"

TAWW TAWW TAWW TAWW-TAWWW..

I couldn't believe it !!! I burst into cheer.. then looked around and no one was cheering, so I had to stop.


Never a school PA sounded so good.

It kept going for like a minute or so, then the choregraphy turned to some kind of hip hop soundtrack and the remaining hour and half were pure torture.