I had to accept recently that I do like dubstep after listening to the Zenless Zone Zero battle music and realizing there’s a lot of dubstep there, but I don’t know electronic genres well so maybe it’s some esoteric genre I’ve never heard of.
Black album is interesting because it’s still divisive amongst older fans. I totally get it though. I had probably the exact same experience when Linkin Park’s Minutes to Midnight came out. Eventually it grew on me, but I hated it at the time.
and it fuckin rocks!! i have 100% confidence saying everyone on this forum will like this band, or at the very least appreciate what they’re doing. riffy black metal (?) with a little bit of genre bending that never feels forced or obvious, all made with a very punk spirit if that makes sense
Deafheaven making metal music again in the year of our lord 2025. I was more of an emo kid than a metal kid, but I think this is closer to the vein of melodic death metal than it is to shoegazey black metal, which used to be there whole thing. Someone more knowledgable than I might have to check me on that. Anyway, this rules hard.
@MoH
I feel you! I stand by almost their whole disco ordinary corrupt human love was the perfect mix up of all their weirdness. almost uncategorizable music in the best way. with this new single and the last record, it feels like every era going forward will be a more narrow genre study & that’s a lot less fun for sure.
@exodus (or any other west coast rockers) have you ever been to dark realm records in Downey? It’s run by the dudes from sadistic intent. I just stopped in and they have an insane selection.
Downey like in LA? I never have! I’ll give it a go next time I’m down there.
Also!! I haven’t been keeping up so maybe eeeeverybody knew about this but it is real cool that melt banana released their first album in 11 years a few months ago and it’s like emo mathrock on top of their experimental grindcore mathrock. I heard this on the radio today and didn’t know who it was until I heard her voice.
It’s kinda outside of my musical zone but it is growing on me.
Downey in LA yes. I’m there for work coincidentally so I can’t imagine I would have been out there otherwise but was very glad I went. The two brothers from sadistic intent actually run the shop, too, so it was fun talking to them a little bit. I came right from a work thing so I was wearing a suit and stuff, which was a funny juxtaposition.
Slightly related—I was almost tempted to buy a satanic warmaster they had on sale. They’ve been on my mind recently because of the metal threat fest happening outside of Chicago in october:
The recent political situation put me in an Orchid kind of mood, only to find out that Orchid had multiple reunion shows last year that somehow completely flew under my radar. But that led me to discover Ritual Mess, which I also had no idea about, as well as a California screamo band that scratches the itch
We just lost a real heavy hitter in modern Norwegian black metal. Trånn Ciekals, the frontman of Djevel passed away, according to his band’s IG page. IMO the best black metal band out of Norway in the past decade. Was hoping to see them in the US one day; his live performances were epic. RIP.
this isn’t going to win me any cool points but i find myself listening to these two albums lately
first up is the old in flames record, lunar strain
i’ve never listened to much in flames post clayman and even then its still primarily lunar strain and the jester race but lunar strain is so good! the comparisons are obvious, but those first two albums really get me feeling the same way pre-slaughter at the gates does.
next up is…the newest bruce dickinson solo album
despite loving iron maiden, i’ve always thought bruce dickinson was a bit of a tool. i still think that but the man has quite the voice. this solo album has been getting some chatter along with the newest judas priest album as “actually good,” so i threw it on. it’s not very exciting…but i like it a lot? i don’t know. it’s hard to explain, but very listenable. gonna tag @Tom for this one in case it wasn’t on his radar.
also the video is hilarious and looks shockingly low budget for a man who likely owns a commerical aircraft.
Thanks for the mention on this one @MoH - it’s actually been on my radar for a bit, as I did really like his first few solo albums, specifically Balls to Picasso (His first release after leaving Maiden) but hadn’t gotten around to it. Will try and check it out later today when I have a chance. That video is awesome. Like him, they don’t make 'em like they used to!
I have been getting back into Light the Torch recently, as I am a huge fan of Howard Jones’ vocals (I like Killswitch Engage, but only his recordings with them). If you haven’t heard them, worth a few minutes of your time:
only because i looked this up yesterday, i will pedantically correct you to say Tattooed Millionaire was his first solo release, Balls to Picasso his second. i’ll also add that those two album titles alone say more than i ever could about bruce dickinson’s vibe lol. i dipped into all of his solo albums yesterday and it seems like from the chemical wedding onward they were heavier than the first few. i also found out he wrote a screenplay for the chemical wedding and they made a movie about it. again, despite me thinking he’s a bit goofy, you can’t say the man isn’t ambitious and driven.
i have very fond memories of killswitch engage. i remember watching their music videos on the headbangers ball reboot mtv2 tried to do. howard has some pipes!
His last performance with the band on 28 August 1993 was filmed by the BBC at Pinewood Studios and released as a live video the following year, entitled Raising Hell .[58] Balls to Picasso was recorded with Tribe of Gypsies as the backing band,[35] and was released in 1994.
I prefered the second because Shoot all the Clowns was such an awesome song! And he’s a very cool dude who clearly loves heavy music and enjoys performing and singing. It’ll be a sad day when he retires. Never knew he wrote a screenplay!
Howard Jones really pushed Killswitch to a new level. I never got into Jesse Leech’s singing and when he performs those songs he just doesn’t hit the same level for me. I’m not saying he isn’t good, but he had big (literally and metaphorically) boots to go back to after he rejoined the band.
I know My Curse and Holy Diver were huge hits for them but my all time favourite song of theirs has to be this one:
