monodrone
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Post by monodrone on Jul 21, 2017 7:00:04 GMT -5
Hiya! Welcome to Monodrone vs. METAL. In this series I'll be going up against a recent list of the 100 Greatest Metal Albums of All Time that Rolling Stone published. I know, Rolling Stone, blech but stay with me here - they drafted in some writers I trust to help compile the list and it's ended up a solid representation of various facets of metal. I know we metalheads are a fickle bunch so there'll be plenty to quibble about when it comes to what's in and what's not in but that's part of the fun. Depite my obvious metal bone fides I've only properly listened to half of the albums on the list so it'll be part a voyage of discovery and part a trip down memory lane. I'll be starting with number 100 - City of Evil by Avenged Sevenfold later on this afternoon unless something happens at work. Who's in?
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Post by Smacks on Jul 21, 2017 8:20:17 GMT -5
This'll be FUN.
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Post by monodrone on Jul 21, 2017 10:05:17 GMT -5
100. Avenged Sevenfold - City of Evil
Who the heck are these chumps? Avenged Sevenfold started life as a boring-ass metalcore band before making a leap on this, their 3rd album, to some sort of faster paced glam metal or whatever. They've since shape-shifted a couple of times with the Black Album aping Hail To The King and last year's prog-metal epic The Stage.
The songs, are they good? Beast and the Harlot - Strong opening. Soaring guitars, drum fills and moody pianos that give way to a pummelling beat and a whole lot of fast palm muting. Namecheck for the album title in the opening verse. I love this ridiculous, overblown nonsense. The twin guitar solo around 2 minutes in is so good that even an ardent air drummer like me can't help but imagine a fretboard. As for air drumming, the breakdown at 3 and a half minutes is impossible. The only let down is the pointless key change, one more time, chorus at the end that means the song ends up close to 6 minutes long.
Burn It Down - smooth transition into this from the end of track one. This is less fun, it feels like a hangover from their early work with more of a slow chug in the verses that doesn't work for me with M Shadows nasal whine over the top. This is the only song that comes in at under 5 minutes. Aww heck.
Blinded in Chains - would it make more sense for this song to be called Binded in Chains? Is that what they're going for? I'd probably have to look at the lyrics to see if it works and I'm not prepared to do that. As for the song, the low vocal in the verse has the cadence of a Bloodhound Gang rap which I don't think anyone needs but otherwise it's fine but what is that last 90 seconds there for?
Bat Country - now we're talking. RAD DRUM FILLS. This chorus used to get stuck in my head long before I knew who'd written it thanks to the rock and metal clubs of 2006 that I used to attend. The drippy post-chorus bit isn't great but I get the impulse to throw it in and the acceleration back into the verse is really well done. The little fills on the ride during the quiet part of the guitar solo make my heart swell. The Rev was amazing. Then it feels like there's about to be a great build up to a strong finish before another minute long gutless outro.
Trashed and Scattered - Weird song. It lulled me into a false sense of security before that staccatto pre-chorus hits and I don't know if I like it or not. The vocal melodies in the faster section are funny too, in the past I've been scathing about M Shadows being comfortably the worst part of the band but I think I've softened to him on this listen. He's not a great singer but he's trying to be interesting with what he's got.
Seize the Day - Mid-album metal ballad. You either hate them or you're wrong. WHY WON'T THEY LEARN TO END THESE FUCKING SONGS THERE IS NO REASON FOR THIS TO BE FIVE AND A HALF MINUTES LONG. GET TO THE DAMN POINT.
Sidewinder - It's not good enough to get the bad taste of Seize the Day out of my mouth. Too slow. Too long. Too much acoustic guitar break down. Get in the bin.
The Wicked End - More Betterer but everything's a drag at this point.
Strength of the World - Let's pretend we're making a song for a Western movie soundtrack! Then it turns into another boring Avenged Sevenfold song but this time with added gang vocals. It's sure to be a live favourite with the fans as a result of that. All joking a salad, it's fun to shout things like "ice in my veins" in a crowd. Oh hey, it fades back to the movie soundtrack that in no way fits with the rest of the album. Shit man, heck (smh)
Betrayed - I think I like this one. It's a quieter, slower number but it doesn't totally suck. Is this Stockholm Syndrome? No, that's a much better song by Muse. I'm past the half way point and it still doesn't totally suck but it does mostly suck. Get on with it, dickwads.
M.I.A. - Bits of this sound like a really shitty Billy Talent and, of course, it has a fade out ending. END. END. STOP. GO AWAY.
What d'ya make of it then? There are some great tracks early on but every song on City of Evil outstays its welcome. If they'd had someone in their ear telling them to cut the bloat out they'd have a pretty good album that got in and out in under an hour but no, here I am after 72 minutes of growing resentment having to dig deep to remember the first few songs that were genuinely good. The back half is an absolute slog.
Reposted A7x Fan Comment on This Album: Berto7x6 months ago simply, the greatest metal album ever. This album has made me become metalhead
Are there 100 better metal albums than this? Yes.
Next up, at 99: Evanescence - Fallen
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LazBro
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Post by LazBro on Jul 21, 2017 10:53:39 GMT -5
My professional opinion is that any metalhead who doesn't like "Bat Country" can shut the fuck up. That song slays! I like the extended outro, too. In fact I like all the overlong bits in the first 5 tracks. I wasn't familiar with Avenged Sevenfold before City of Evil, so this album was both my entry point and, so far, my exit point with the band. Nothing I heard from self-titled album and onward caught my ear enough for me to pick up another album. Though everyone who mentions The Stage tends the throw the word "prog" in there, so I should probably check it out. Don't know if y'all heard, but I like prog. I put prog in my prog so I can prog while I prog.
One thing I really did appreciate about A7x versus a lot of the alt metal / metalcore crowd of the day was their chops. Like their songs or not, these cats can rip. The Rev was a way better drummer than anyone else at this level of metal had going at the time. And Synyster Gates is an often thrilling soloist.
Also, how great is this: the replacement drummer didn't take on a stupid name like the rest of them. So now the band line up is:
M. Shadows Zacky Vengeance Synyster Gates Johnny Christ And... ... ... Brooks Wackerman
One more thing: when I bought this CD at one of those cheap DVD/CD trade-in joints, the cashier said to me, "You should just buy some Maiden." Which, like, fuck you! I'm familiar with Maiden. I can listen to more than one band.
Good Album? The first 5 songs are strong enough to inch it over the line, though I agree with our host that the back drags a bit.
Best Tracks: Bat Country, Beast & The Harlot, Trashed & Scattered
Really excited for this series, Mono.
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monodrone
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Post by monodrone on Jul 21, 2017 11:35:48 GMT -5
Brooks Wackerman has been a punk too long to be messing around with daft goth names.
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Post by Il sole sotto la terra on Jul 21, 2017 11:41:06 GMT -5
This should be fun.
*Looks at list*
No fuckin way in hell I'm listening to Evanescence.
*Continues to look at list*
The fuck? Korn above Sodom's Agent Orange!? [Scanners .gif]
*Finishes list*
OK, the top 20 is mostly pretty good, and there are some killer albums along the way. I'll do my best, but some of these are just not happening for me.
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Post by monodrone on Jul 21, 2017 12:03:49 GMT -5
This should be fun. *Looks at list* No fuckin way in hell I'm listening to Evanescence. *Continues to look at list* The fuck? Korn above Sodom's Agent Orange!? [Scanners .gif] *Finishes list* OK, the top 20 is mostly pretty good, and there are some killer albums along the way. I'll do my best, but some of these are just not happening for me. We're going to disagree on some things. Keeps it interesting, eh?
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Smacks
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Post by Smacks on Jul 21, 2017 12:50:29 GMT -5
I'm going to attempt not to look at the list and take 'em as they come. SO I put this album on while reading monodrone glowing review of Beast & The Harlot. Reading further on through the review, I don't think I'll listen to the whole album. I have to admit it's better than I expected but damn, that's really not saying much. I agree it's a very strong opening. Everything sounds great. Track 2? Get the fuck out of here with that whiny voice. I'd rather listen to a baby screaming and I think we all know how I feel about babies. Skipping directly to Bat Country which has been pretty hyped here and everywhere else. Oh, yeah I've heard this before. Great melody and chorus. Almost makes me forgive M. Shadows for the whining. Almost. That post-chorus bit almost takes me right the fuck out of it, but that solo drags me back. I don't feel I'm ever gonna like this band and I think I'll stop right here with this one. I know who they are and what they're about, I'm good. I'm glad this is #100, although I'm sure I'll claim something else is shittier along the way. This is glammy, and I guess I just lost my taste for glam in the early 90s. Trashed & Scattered is playing now and I want it out of my ears. LazBro thank you for bringing up the asinine names. My personal fave is Zacky Vengeance. Good grief. There is NO better way for you to have me dismiss your band than gimmicks, be it names or masks. Ugh. Also, "I put prog in my prog so I can prog while I prog." I will be stealing this to use it some day, when the time is just right.
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Post by Smacks on Jul 21, 2017 13:09:18 GMT -5
Alright, I lied- you got me. 5 minutes after I posted I went to the list. While I have to say I'm glad to see Opeth represented, the fact that Van Halen and Slipknot (so many others but those two in particular) were ranked higher makes me ILL. I guess for me, songwriting > popularity. I see why people like bands like VH and Kiss, etc. They're fun, catchy, popular, entertaining. But if you believe "Everybody want some, I want some tooooooo!" even belongs in the same room as The Drapery Falls I cannot comprehend. Verse-chorus-verse, shout along part, rote boring ass songwriting does NOT turn me on. I may not LOVE to sit and listen to some of the more technical metal bands out there - but I respect what they do more than someone crapping out radio hits.
Wow, I sound like an asshole. I'm not bagging on people who like VH or Slipknot (hell, my boyfriend loves them) but it just feels to me that there is a clear disparity in the amount of talent. And that's the last time I'll go off on the rankings. I am going to do a one-by-one evaluation with you guys and not look at it as a comparison. Promise.
Opinions, aren't they fun!
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LazBro
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Post by LazBro on Jul 21, 2017 13:31:03 GMT -5
Brooks Wackerman has been a punk too long to be messing around with daft goth names. I actually wasn't familiar, but after your comment I looked him up. Oh yeah, he's earned it.
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Post by repulsionist on Jul 24, 2017 16:35:20 GMT -5
Congratulations, monodrone . You've embarked on an extensive thrill ride courtesy of Crawdaddy's more successful, better-looking peer. Like others, I have some reservations with the list. I've typed a few words about A7X on this site in years' past when stumping for a Record Club contestant. I stand by those thoughts: this album is perfect glam metalcore; I likened their family tree to be a straight line from Suicidal Tendencies to Guns 'n' Roses to A7X. They get stuck in a "too many cooks" approach while crafting the perfect chalice of transgressive rebellion, by which you accurately assess A7X's inability to end songs. Their crashing talents just unwind like a rambling 2AM conversation into something that sounds interesting when you only hear snippets of the conversation. But, for me, that's part of their fun: "We are a refined merchandising entity. Play on our team, Team Death, Bro! Like that time during summer vacation when we were too young and ignorant to accomplish anything other than get into a colossal amount of trouble. Stay for the Closing Credits' Easter Egg. It's Epic!"
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Post by monodrone on Jul 31, 2017 10:48:21 GMT -5
99. Evanescence - FallenWho the heck are these chumps?What if nu metal but goths? Nu metal was on the way out in 2003 and Evanescence were here to usher in its demise. They sold over 17 million copies of this album and their big hit has 391,122,047 views on youtube at the time of writing. Those are obscene numbers and a sign that what was happening in mainstream rock/metal was not sustainable. The songs, are they good?
Bring Me To Life - I don't expect many of the albums on this list to open with a piano and string section. Pianos aren't metal. There are some sweet DJ scratches and a rumble of thunder before the band shows up. Aside from the vocals there's not much of note going on. The guitar riffs are rudimentary with a kind of shitty industrial tone that I don't care for but that's not the point of the song. This song, and I'm going to make a bold assumption here and say 'this album', is all about the vocal performance and y'know what, I think it's good. I've sung along to this song in rock clubs up and down the country over the years and meant every dumb word of it. Even the bit when your man comes in gets a pass from me. Sorry/not sorry. Everybody's Fool - I get the feeling this isn't an especially diverse album. Listless guitar chugs and a big vocal but this one is worse because it's so one paced. Going Under - oh hey, a guitar solo, what's that doing here? It doesn't fit with the rest of the song which is another lumbering instrumental slog with a catchy enough chorus. It doesn't upset me so I'll take it. Haunted - I was totally wrong about the lack of diversity, there's a wah effect on the guitar here. Not that it helps make anything interesting happen because the guitar riff in the verses is one fucking chord repeated ad nauseum. Tourniquet - do yourselves a favour and skip this one, you've already heard it. Imaginary - the string section is back and Amy Lee is doing what sounds like Bring Me To Life again. This sounds like Hoobastank and I would know, having bought a Hoobastank album around the time that Fallen came out. I don't hate it as much as you probably do. My Immortal - this is a bad pop song ballad that I don't like. Might as well be Celine Dion. My Last Breath - not so immortal after all. I'm bored. The processed drums are doing my head in. Everything's so boring. Even the vocals which are comfortably the most competent part are starting to grate because every chorus sounds the same. Hello - piano and vocals with a melody that's been lifted from Radiohead's Street Spirit then ruined. NAH. SKIPSKIPSKIP. Taking Over Me - *faaaaart* Whisper - this is the first song that's started with a guitar riff that's only mostly sucked rather than entirely sucked. The album closes with some latin chanting to up the goth quotient. What d'ya make of it then?
It's a pile o' shit, except for that one song that I like and even that I can see as mostly bad but tied up with me being 19 when it came out. Don't put yourself through it if you don't want to. Reposted A7x Fan Comment on This Album: Ted Webber 1 year ago I miss the good old days, when music was quality. ROCK, PUNK, and METAL! The very essence of the early 2000's! Are there 99 better metal albums than this?
There are thousands of better metal albums. Next up, at number 98, is Sunn O))) - Monoliths and Dimensions which I'll do in the next few days to get the rid of the bad taste Fallen has left me with.
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Post by Roy Batty's Pet Dove on Aug 1, 2017 23:44:37 GMT -5
Alright, I lied- you got me. 5 minutes after I posted I went to the list. While I have to say I'm glad to see Opeth represented, the fact that Van Halen and Slipknot (so many others but those two in particular) were ranked higher makes me ILL. I guess for me, songwriting > popularity. I see why people like bands like VH and Kiss, etc. They're fun, catchy, popular, entertaining. But if you believe "Everybody want some, I want some tooooooo!" even belongs in the same room as The Drapery Falls I cannot comprehend. Verse-chorus-verse, shout along part, rote boring ass songwriting does NOT turn me on. I may not LOVE to sit and listen to some of the more technical metal bands out there - but I respect what they do more than someone crapping out radio hits. Wow, I sound like an asshole. I'm not bagging on people who like VH or Slipknot (hell, my boyfriend loves them) but it just feels to me that there is a clear disparity in the amount of talent. And that's the last time I'll go off on the rankings. I am going to do a one-by-one evaluation with you guys and not look at it as a comparison. Promise. Opinions, aren't they fun! To be fair, Eddie and Alex Van Halen are legitimately talented musicians, and David Lee Roth is, while sexist and obnoxious, and not stylistically everyone's thing, a talented singer. I'm sure that there's bands with less technical proficiency than Van Halen that appear higher than them on the list. Like I kinda doubt the guys from Alice in Chains have the technical prowess of the Van Halen brothers even with Michael Anthony dragging them down talent-wise, and, from my fever-dream-esque memories of being exposed to the song as a kid whenever it would come on the radio, "Rooster" is, iirc, approximately thrice as long as the album Women and Children First, so at least Van Halen's hits have the virtue of being reasonably short. And as far as obnoxiously misogynistic classic metal radio staples go, I'd roll my eyes at the fact that Twisted Sister made the list and that Motley Crue is on there twice more so than that Van Halen made the list.
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Smacks
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Post by Smacks on Aug 3, 2017 6:40:03 GMT -5
Alright, I lied- you got me. 5 minutes after I posted I went to the list. While I have to say I'm glad to see Opeth represented, the fact that Van Halen and Slipknot (so many others but those two in particular) were ranked higher makes me ILL. I guess for me, songwriting > popularity. I see why people like bands like VH and Kiss, etc. They're fun, catchy, popular, entertaining. But if you believe "Everybody want some, I want some tooooooo!" even belongs in the same room as The Drapery Falls I cannot comprehend. Verse-chorus-verse, shout along part, rote boring ass songwriting does NOT turn me on. I may not LOVE to sit and listen to some of the more technical metal bands out there - but I respect what they do more than someone crapping out radio hits. Wow, I sound like an asshole. I'm not bagging on people who like VH or Slipknot (hell, my boyfriend loves them) but it just feels to me that there is a clear disparity in the amount of talent. And that's the last time I'll go off on the rankings. I am going to do a one-by-one evaluation with you guys and not look at it as a comparison. Promise. Opinions, aren't they fun! To be fair, Eddie and Alex Van Halen are legitimately talented musicians, and David Lee Roth is, while sexist and obnoxious, and not stylistically everyone's thing, a talented singer. I'm sure that there's bands with less technical proficiency than Van Halen that appear higher than them on the list. Like I kinda doubt the guys from Alice in Chains have the technical prowess of the Van Halen brothers even with Michael Anthony dragging them down talent-wise, and, from my fever-dream-esque memories of being exposed to the song as a kid whenever it would come on the radio, "Rooster" is, iirc, approximately thrice as long as the album Women and Children First, so at least Van Halen's hits have the virtue of being reasonably short. And as far as obnoxiously misogynistic classic metal radio staples go, I'd roll my eyes at the fact that Twisted Sister made the list and that Motley Crue is on there twice more so than that Van Halen made the list. I hear ya Rando, and there were probably better targets on that list than VH for me to go after. I won't take anything away from the technical prowess of the bros, but I was talking more about songwriting than performance, and I don't find most classic rock staples to be that impressive composition-wise. We'll have to agree to disagree on calling Roth a talented singer. He's got some tricks up his sleeve but I think his voice is rather sloppy. And as big of an AIC fan as I am, I've never liked Rooster.
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monodrone
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Post by monodrone on Aug 3, 2017 7:30:34 GMT -5
Spoilers: the 5 albums I'm least looking forward to putting myself through include both Motley Crues and Twisted Sister (rounded out by Def Leppard and I dunno... Scorpions or something)
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Post by monodrone on Aug 3, 2017 10:25:26 GMT -5
98. Sunn O))) - Monoliths And DimensionsWho the heck are these chumps? Sunn O))) are two guys that like to make glacially paced music with enough of a sense of humour that they decided to name themselves after a brand of amp. We covered an earlier Sunn O))) composition in the Anniversary Album Club in January, read about it here: tolerabilityindex.freeforums.net/thread/5096/anniversary-record-club-2017-flightThe songs, are they good?Are these songs? Is this even music? Agartha - 17 minutes of a creaky floorboard with the sound of an electric garden strimmer and some *extremely Sunn O))) voice* vocals. Sometimes there's a trumpet, sometimes there's a guitar, I think there was a piano for 30 seconds. There's no rhythm to it, which is largely the point. Everything slower than everything else. It's what I expected, basically. Big Church [megszentségteleníthetetlenségeskedéseitekért] - this is obviously the pop tune single for the album. There's more noise from the off with the buzzsaw guitar and some choral singing/chanting before... *ding* Pause. Continue. This could be on the soundtrack to some sort of apocalyptic action movie, the scene where our heroes survey the destruction that has been wraught by nature/aliens/the rise of the planet of the planet of the apes that has arisen. *ding* Pause. Continue. The mission has failed. Earth has been destroyed by the unexpected rapid expansion of the Sunn. All life on the planet ends. Fade to Black (not the Metallica one, we'll get to that) Hunting & Gathering (Cydonia) - I think this could be the first guitar riff of the album. This is more in line with what I know about drone from listening to other related bands. Considerably less formless than the previous two tracks. I think this counts as a 'song' where I'd consider what's come before to be more akin to a 'movement' but I don't have any real music theory knowledge to back up any classification, only gut feel which is more true in a way. I really like it, is what I'm saying. Alice - who the fuck is Alice? The opening salvo of an occasional chord being struck is reminiscent of the more ambient passages in a Red Sparowes song except it's not an opening salvo, it's just 16 minutes of this. I could see that being a problem for a lot of people but I think i'm into it. The fairytale quality of the toot-toots and shimmering harp-work towards the end is nice but what's the point of it? Is it a joke? I guess it could be a hat tip to Alice In Wonderland but why bother? It's out of step with every What d'ya make of it then?
It's not fun to listen to and as a drummer I find it much harder to get into any music that doesn't have a noticable beat to it BUT this is compelling. At no point did I think this was a waste of time or any urge to skip ahead which is as solid a metric for whether or not I appreciated the experience of listening to a thing which is more than can be said for their collaboration with Merzbow (linked to above). I'm not going to be putting it on a heavy rotation but I'll definitely revisit it. I would very much like to see them live. Reposted A7x Fan Comment on This Album: jessie morris3 months ago
so me being a dipshit was like hey they look cool (I'm a slipknot fan just to put this into perspective) so i click and i listen..... lyrics??..... no? okay...... get any faster.... nope okay maybe not Are there 100 better metal albums than this?Ack, maybe. This is a stupid metric. Is it better than what we've already been faced with on this list? Yes. Next up, at 97: Gojira - From Mars To Sirius
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Post by Roy Batty's Pet Dove on Aug 4, 2017 22:05:34 GMT -5
Listening to the first three albums on the list, it's hard to disagree with much of what you said, Monodrone. I'd heard City of Evil before, and it's the sort of band that, had I first heard it when I was in high school, I'd have probably ended up being a big fan of and still enjoying because nostalgia, but the songs are just so bloated, and the good parts are too few and far between. I'm agreed on "Bat Country", though, and "Sidewinder", not possessing the same exact guitar song on every other A7X song, was noteworthy and decent enough that I'd say I enjoyed it, too. Finally, the Rev really was a good drummer, wasn't he?
Evanescence is a band that I probably feel a bit too much good will towards for nostalgic reasons, though, and I do still like "Bring Me to Life", "Going Under", and even "My Immortal" quite a bit. I don't think I'd ever listened to all of Fallen before though, although I'm pretty sure I had heard a couple of the non-singles on the album, like "Tourniquet" and "Haunted", before. Unfortunately, like you said, the rest of the album is largely just a lot of mediocre same-iness.
Sunn O))) I've never really gotten into, I think their alright, but apart from their excellent collaboration with Scott Walker (the singer) a couple of years back, I wasn't a big fan of much of what I'd heard. That being said, I liked Monoliths and Dimensions, although I'm not sure if I can really put my finger on why I enjoyed it.
Anyway, thanks for doing this thread, Monodrone! I'm looking forward to your future reviews on this list; there's a lot of great stuff that I already love on the list, as well as a bunch more albums that I've never listened to, so this should be fun and enlightening.
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LazBro
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Post by LazBro on Aug 4, 2017 23:28:20 GMT -5
Mothereffers, I've spent the last hour or so jamming City of Evil and really liking it! What are y'all doing to me?! I don't care about the Evanescence record (though I'm still a big fan of " Call Me When You're Sober", mostly 'cause how hot Amy Lee is in the video), but goddammit I'll try this fuckin' drone album. Fuck y'all.
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Post by ganews on Aug 5, 2017 18:43:35 GMT -5
98. Sunn O))) - Monoliths And DimensionsWho the heck are these chumps? Sunn O))) are two guys that like to make glacially paced music with enough of a sense of humour that they decided to name themselves after a brand of amp. We covered an earlier Sunn O))) composition in the Anniversary Album Club in January, read about it here: tolerabilityindex.freeforums.net/thread/5096/anniversary-record-club-2017-flight I stand by my embarrassing outburst. Still, I started the other Record Club so I would be forced to listen to new things, and I certainly never would have made it past the description otherwise. Captain Beefheart's "Trout Mask Replica" was an early selection too (I found some things to like). What d'ya make of it then?
It's not fun to listen to and as a drummer I find it much harder to get into any music that doesn't have a noticable beat to it BUT this is compelling. At no point did I think this was a waste of time or any urge to skip ahead which is as solid a metric for whether or not I appreciated the experience of listening to a thing which is more than can be said for their collaboration with Merzbow (linked to above). I'm not going to be putting it on a heavy rotation but I'll definitely revisit it. I would very much like to see them live. You're a better man than me. I have no interest whatsoever in seeing them live, but I am curious. Would it be like the audience for an orchestral performance? Is it Very Serious, or a joke that everyone is in on, or a dare, and does the audience consist of representatives from each camp?
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Post by Il sole sotto la terra on Aug 6, 2017 22:54:06 GMT -5
You're a better man than me. I have no interest whatsoever in seeing them live, but I am curious. Would it be like the audience for an orchestral performance? Is it Very Serious, or a joke that everyone is in on, or a dare, and does the audience consist of representatives from each camp? From what I understand, they're loud. Like louder than a 747 loud. And ritualistic.
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monodrone
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Post by monodrone on Aug 7, 2017 6:25:13 GMT -5
You're a better man than me. I have no interest whatsoever in seeing them live, but I am curious. Would it be like the audience for an orchestral performance? Is it Very Serious, or a joke that everyone is in on, or a dare, and does the audience consist of representatives from each camp? From what I understand, they're loud. Like louder than a 747 loud. And ritualistic. This is also my understanding of the situation based on what friends of mine who've witnessed them tell me.
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Smacks
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Post by Smacks on Aug 7, 2017 10:52:58 GMT -5
Dang, I have to play catch up.
Evanescence -
Meh. First off, I have to admit that I'm not a big fan of female vocalists. It hurts me to say that (especially cause I'm a singer myself) but I have a very narrow range of female singers that are enjoyable for me to listen to. Dorothea Cottrell is high on that list, but I digress. Going Under is a lot more listenable for me than Come To Life. It's possible that the latter suffers from the too much radio-play thing, where I just really don't want to ever hear it again. My Immortal is just pseudo-dramatic emo crap for teenage girls, I'd like to never hear it again thank you. I'm just skipping through songs now......they all sound the same. "My God, my tourniquet" The fuck is this even supposed to be about? Seems like lame goth-y buzzwords strung together for effect. Looked up the words........ew, don't do it. Is this Christian rock? Track 9 and her voice is really getting to me. In a bad way. I'm not saying she's not talented, I'm saying it is not pleasing to my ears. My Last Breath started out different which was quite promising but......here she is again and I can't do anymore. Tapping out. Goodbye, Evanescence. Forever. A7X deserved your slot on this list.
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monodrone
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Post by monodrone on Aug 7, 2017 11:18:47 GMT -5
Dang, I have to play catch up. Evanescence - Meh. First off, I have to admit that I'm not a big fan of female vocalists. It hurts me to say that (especially cause I'm a singer myself) but I have a very narrow range of female singers that are enjoyable for me to listen to. Dorothea Cottrell is high on that list, but I digress. Going Under is a lot more listenable for me than Come To Life. It's possible that the latter suffers from the too much radio-play thing, where I just really don't want to ever hear it again. My Immortal is just pseudo-dramatic emo crap for teenage girls, I'd like to never hear it again thank you. I'm just skipping through songs now......they all sound the same. "My God, my tourniquet" The fuck is this even supposed to be about? Seems like lame goth-y buzzwords strung together for effect. Looked up the words........ew, don't do it. Is this Christian rock? Track 9 and her voice is really getting to me. In a bad way. I'm not saying she's not talented, I'm saying it is not pleasing to my ears. My Last Breath started out different which was quite promising but......here she is again and I can't do anymore. Tapping out. Goodbye, Evanescence. Forever. A7X deserved your slot on this list. I had Going Under stuck in my head for most of the week after listening to it but with the verse flowing into the verse for Down With The Sickness by Disturbed Every Single Time. It was infuriating.
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Smacks
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Post by Smacks on Aug 9, 2017 10:12:30 GMT -5
Ah, Sunn O))). I love drone, noise, dark ambient music. Anything that reminds me of a horror soundtrack, creates a mood, makes me feel uneasy, confused or apprehensive. Sunn O))) certainly fits the bill. I'd love to see them live. I could put this album on in the background while I'm doing something around the house or on a late night drive. The second track on Monoliths is on my Halloween playlist on Spotify. However, top 100 metal albums I gotta disagree with. This is great, but even 'album' is a bit of a stretch for me. It's almost performance art. I'm all for pushing the boundaries, I just could replace it with something more along the lines of a traditional album for the purposes of a list like this. That being said, I'm just glad to see something more 'extreme' on the list already.
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monodrone
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Post by monodrone on Aug 10, 2017 10:37:42 GMT -5
Ah, Sunn O))). I love drone, noise, dark ambient music. Anything that reminds me of a horror soundtrack, creates a mood, makes me feel uneasy, confused or apprehensive. Sunn O))) certainly fits the bill. I'd love to see them live. I could put this album on in the background while I'm doing something around the house or on a late night drive. The second track on Monoliths is on my Halloween playlist on Spotify. However, top 100 metal albums I gotta disagree with. This is great, but even 'album' is a bit of a stretch for me. It's almost performance art. I'm all for pushing the boundaries, I just could replace it with something more along the lines of a traditional album for the purposes of a list like this. That being said, I'm just glad to see something more 'extreme' on the list already. That's pretty much where I've ended up on it. I can see the argument for putting Monoliths in there being 'we want this list to represent everything that metal can be' and I think this qualifies as something worth showcasing. I feel like there's a lot of that in the 80-100 range, things that deserve representation even if there are other things that I prefer. I'll get to Gojira next week - been swamped at work the last few days and I'm going away for a long weekend tomorrow! Spoiler: I fucking love Gojira.
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monodrone
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Post by monodrone on Aug 22, 2017 5:31:54 GMT -5
97. Gojira - From Mars To SiriusWho the heck are these chumps?Gojira are a technical/progressive death metal band (WHATEVER ONE OF THOSE IS, EH? EH!?!?) from France who formed in the mid-90s when two brothers, Joe and Mario Duplantier, realised that they liked playing Metallica and Sepultura songs and figured they could probably write some of their own. From Mars to Sirius is the band's 3rd album, released in 2005, which saw them moving towards the prog side of things with more songs sprawling further past the 5 minute mark than they'd previously attempted. The songs, are they good?Ocean Planet - THAT PINCH HARMONIC IN THE INTRO RIFF. This might be born out of ignorance but the vocal sound reminds me of late 90s industrial metal like Fear Factory or something which isn't my favourite but everything else is gold. The lead guitar pinch to pick scrape move in the outro is pure Gojira and I love it. Backbone - starts out with a swaggering groove metal riff before taking a turn to Death a minute in. Finally, 4 albums in, there's a blastbeat. From the Sky - pick scrapes are back and they sound like lasers in a sci-fi b-movie. The verse sounds like Metallica's My Friend Misery. Make of that what you will. Unicorn - Settle down, folks. Take a breather. It's unusual to have a cool down instrumental track this early in an album but here we are. Where Dragons Dwell - Half way through this one (after the quiet section with the bells) Mario does my favourite Mario Duplantier Drum Fill Trick rolling on the hi-hat before going around the toms. It seems to be one of his favourites too because he throws them into a bunch of songs across their discography. I'm sure other people have done it (I am going to do it one day) but he's the first person I heard doing it. The fade out is a sin. The Heaviest Matter In The Universe - YES PLEASE THANKS BYE. I am here for the wonky time signature in the intro and for shouting "GO" before the verse. Another MdPDFT to go with it. I'd have written more if I wasn't barely suppressing the urge to open up a pit at my desk. Flying Whales - a couple of minutes of farting around with The Nice Sounds and some whales before a real meaty stomp riff gets things going. He has to find the whales, apparently. Now he can see the whales. I'm happy for him. In The Wilderness - big fan of the regular machine gun snare roll/guitar picking on this one to break up the chugs. World To Come - I'd forgotten about this song. Not sure why they wrote a brit-pop/grunge hybrid to put on the album and I don't particularly like it but sometimes you have to try something to see if it works. The fact that they've done nothing like this since suggests they saw sense eventually. From Mars/To Sirius - it's one song split into two parts. A relaxing 2 minute intro slow build before the double kick drums get going and it's another Good Gojira Song. Global Warming - actually, we prefer to call it Climate Change nowadays. Get with it, fellas. I feel like this is the first proper finger tapped riff on the album, is that right? I'm not going back to check but it seems surprising given how much I associate them with Gojira. What d'ya make of it then?It's very good. All the sci-fi laser pick scrapes, sweet as heck pinch harmonics and one of the best drummers in metal make for an appealing album. The contrast between my feelings towards a 7 minute Avenged Sevenfold song v the equivalently lengthed (not a real term) Gojira song is clear too with the latter having the ability to cycle through enough different ideas without losing the thread of a song to keep me interested and when they go hard and fast it's captivating. Reposted Fan Comment on This Album:Random Random9 months ago Flying Whales remind me Ecco the dolphin .. :/ Are there 100 better metal albums than this?I'd have two other Gojira albums higher than From Mars To Sirius (Magma and The Way Of All Flesh are the best) but they're one of my favourite bands so I'd likely have all 3 in my top 100. Next up, at 96, Kvelertak - Meir
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fab
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Post by fab on Aug 22, 2017 7:21:41 GMT -5
Top X Lists are fun to dissect. I suspect that a few entries will be a nod to the context of an era as opposed to being a stone cold classic. I get the argument as far as it pertains to higher profile success and relative influence on the larger culture, as no musical genre exists in a vacuum... a few will no doubt make me roll my eyes a bit, and I say this as a casual metal fan. (case in point: the first entry.)
I should state up front that if this list lacks a Sleep / High on Fire entry, I'm gonna be rather annoyed. I'm very curious to see how this all shakes out and will only pop in and listen to the albums as they're revealed in this thread.
thoughts thus far:
this Avenged Sevenfold album City of Evil is... ehh, it's okay? I feel like I'm being charitable in saying that much... not my cup of tea to say the least. might be a hell of a lot more fun live though, since I can generally get behind stuff with too earnest cheese if presented with the appropriate level of showmanship.
it's got little bits of flair that help gussy up what would otherwise be extremely blase fare. (what the fuck is with these totally out of place melodic breaks inserted into every other tune? why are they struggling to focus on a specific musical idea for the duration of almost any song and feel the need to spin the dial over to something else? dig in, motherfuckers!)
it actually kinda irritates me to hear the occasional bar or tossed off phrase that hints at what could've been. I have no problem with artists aping their influences or paying overt tribute, provided that it has an interesting twist or shows a deep understanding of what makes that particular genre or artist work well.
I can't really get mad at dual lead harmonization breaks ever. some fun drum fills in there. the mix is doing absolutely nothing for me, but I don't know if I can really knock that, as I'm listening on fairly neutral open back headphones at a sane volume that won't blow my eardrums and lots of modern production styles almost expect a modest bump in the low end frequencies, which these Sennheisers definitely lack.
it kinda feels like a grab bag of ideas. some of them fit better than others... rather lacking in coherency and vision. I can see why it's popular, but it doesn't do much for me.
there's way too much filler on here... some otherwise solid songs feel like they're padding out their overall structure with harmonic decisions that do nothing for me. lots of skippable bits that overstay their welcome. and hell no, I am not gonna sit through that totally out of place acoustic ballad -- Seize the Day -- which just sounded hackneyed and cynical from the outset. curiously, I liked the intro for Strength of the World and didn't find that to be overly jarring. some tasteful instrumentation and solid melodic content.
I'll take the relative harshness and often unmusical stereotypical metal grunt etc. over this kinda hammy but indistinct warbling. singer seems better when pushing into the higher parts of his range, but the rest of it is just too nasal and reedy imho.
I'll need to purge this from my brain before I go any further. I've skirted around the fringes of black metal before and now is as good a time as any to use that as a palate cleanser.
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Post by Il sole sotto la terra on Aug 22, 2017 9:58:44 GMT -5
Re: Gojira
I got bored and quit listening halfway through. Too many pinch harmonics, terrible metalcore vocals, too much chugga chugga. Drummer's pretty good though.
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fab
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Post by fab on Aug 25, 2017 11:36:52 GMT -5
so, this Evanescence album. it's uh... it's on this list somehow. yeeeeeep.
I don't mind it, but how exactly is this considered metal? I could put this on as background pop music and nobody would be offended.
I kinda lump this band in the same mental category as Linkin Park for some reason. they both have that overly melodic poppy take on nu-metal. if there wasn't distortion on the guitar(s?), would this even be considered?
it's solid pop but it just blends together into an amorphous mass. it scratches that "adult contemporary pop-ish with the pretense of bark and zero bite" vibe for me.
maybe it's the lush string arrangements on every track or putting the singer's vocals foremost in the mix. idk.
using the occasional double kick and / or drum trigger doesn't cut the mustard. I got halfway through this album before hearing anything that would remotely qualify as a riff or rhythm guitar that actually cut through the mix.
I can appreciate it on its merits in an entirely different category, but metal? sigh.
its inclusion smacks more of Rolling Stone scrambling for relevance by throwing out contrarian opinions, hoping for some moderate controversy or extra traffic through thinkpieces or something?
what little I know of the publication's history indicates that this isn't anything new. :/
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fab
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Post by fab on Aug 28, 2017 13:30:19 GMT -5
Sunn O))) - Monoliths And Dimensions
this is good. I don't listen to a lot of drone or ambient type things, and it really feels like it takes some of the stuff I've heard in sludge and stoner metal adjacent things to their logically blasted conclusion.
music for a post-apocalyptic landscape, perhaps? it would certainly fit as a film score for certain somber moods. this would be pretty excellent while bombed, no doubt.
vocals feel suitably ominous, dissonant, and jarring. kinda hits the sweet spot of what a lot of darker metal is reaching for -- some kind of ritualistic incantation or w/e.
I have no idea as to what kind of process might go into making stuff like this. curious how they pull of the sustain and feedback loops for some of the longer stuff -- specialized equipment and pedals perhaps?
I remember hearing of (but not actually hearing) Sunn O))) a long while back when browsing the Southern Lord records website for some reason. Wikipedia enlightened me, but I was too lazy to actually seek it out.
I considered going to see them in Toronto a few months ago (even though I'd never sat down and listened to them!) just because it seemed like it would be a surreal and entertaining experience, but I'm generally pretty lazy and don't live in the city proper, so everything feels like a pain in the ass logistically. it ain't anywhere near as fun to line stuff like that up without a crash plan, and commuting back to the burbs is extra surreal after having your face melted off by a wall of sound.
thumbs up on this one.
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