Octopus Overlords

Viking metal or its not uhh viking metal!!

Could vikings shoot bow accurately from the backs of horses? I think not!

Never forget the techno viking...

Folk metal? Viking metal? MONGOLIAN FOLK METAL? Now you're talking my language. A few recommendations, outside of the standard stuff (Amon Amarth, Bathory, Cruachan, Amorphis, Korpiklaani, etc.).

For Mongolian folk metal, no one did it better than Tengger Cavalry. Throat singing, mongolian fiddle, Central Asian instruments...these guys absolutely nailed it. Unfortunately, the band's leader (Nature Ganganbaigal) seems to have called it quits last year.



A couple more suggestions for metal with Asian influences, check out Cthonic and Gyze.





I'm also an absolute sucker for folk and/or Viking metal. A few off the top of my head that I'm partial to:

Finntroll. This is one of Little B 9.3's favorite songs. She loves headbanging to it in the car.


Svartsot


Metsatoll. Seen these guys a couple times. They use an absurd number of folk instruments in their live show.


Myrkur. She's received a ton of hate from the "kvlt" subset of the metal community, but I absolutely adore this woman. Her voice is otherworldly.


Nechochwen. American folk metal with strong Native American influences.


Panopticon. Black metal with bluegrass and Appalachian folk influences. While "Kentucky" (a record focused on Kentucky coal miners) was considered their breakthrough album, I think the follow-up, "Autumn Eternal", was a masterpiece.


Saor. Scottish folk metal, with bagpipes (of course)


Turisas. These guys are my favorite, by a mile. "The Vargangian Way" record is one of the best Viking Metal albums ever made. If you can listen to "To Holmgard and Beyond" without your pulse racing, there's something seriously wrong with you.


My #1 favorite live concert experience ever was seeing Turisas on 70K. They did this particular cover of Boney M's 70's disco hit "Rasputin" at 3:00am, somewhere in the middle of the ocean between Florida and Jamacia, on the deck of a cruise ship, with a clear sky full of stars overhead. It was unlike anything I've ever seen.


Just a few that jump immediately to mind.

My friend who is a huge heavy metal guy recommended this to me....In This Moment.

NSFW





I like Pretty Reckless...more hard rock though.

And here i thought nu metal had died a merciful death. Guess I was wrong.

One of my favorite bands just took a total left turn:

Arctic Monkeys - “Tranquility Base Hotel and Casino”.

It’s a lounge singer chic concept album about a colony on the moon. Nothing that even resembles a single, and not something susceptible to casual listening. It is out there, but 100% awesome!

Put this on, put on some headphones, pour yourself a few drinks and enjoy!

Dance Macabre by Ghost

These guys can literally do no wrong, none!!

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#METALMONDAY

Going for sheer fun over meaning this holiday Monday, "SuperSpecies" by Austrian band Pulse is catchy as hell and guaranteed to make you want to move. (Possibly as far away from me as possible if you don't appreciate metal dance music.) Calling themselves "Industrial Techno Space Metal", the lyrics unfortunately leave a little to be desired. But they're charming in the sense of the many European metal/industrial groups who don't speak English as their first language.

Song: SuperSpecies
Artist: Pulse
Album: Extinction Level Event
Genre: Industrial/Dance Metal

"Hey - I am the storm of innocence
Out - out of the darkside elements
I wipe away infected planets, I´m control
Released to end up life, the error, human doll
You want to scream, If I am near
You can´t create and destroy, what you may fear"

#METALMONDAY

The new Amorphis album came out on Friday, and it's fantastic.

Xmann wrote: ↑Sat May 19, 2018 12:51 am Dance Macabre by Ghost

These guys can literally do no wrong, none!!

This is the first Ghost song in a long time that did absolutely nothing for me. The full-on 80's cheese just isn't my thing...still looking forward to the new record though.

Sudy wrote: ↑Mon May 21, 2018 9:32 am

Reminds me a lot of the stuff from Celldweller and Blue Stahli. I dig it!

Huh, and I'm digging that Amorphis track. I've seen you post about them numerous times over the years, but I guess when I checked them out the last time I started with the wrong album/track.

My favorite is still the Skyforger album, which is in my personal top 10 records of all time.

Been random again though the Fallout 76 trailer led me to a good Country Roads cover by a 2012 Aussie Xfactor guy.

After taking a bit of a break, it would seem Coheed and Cambria are going back to their concept album prog rock roots. They released a 10 minute song today and I suspect a new album will be announced shortly. I've already listened to this a whole bunch of times and it's just crunchy guitar hook awesomeness.

On first listen, I'm really underwhelmed and disappointed by the new Ghost album that came out today. The whole thing just feels so boring and safe. "Rats" and "Faith" are the only two songs that really stood out.

Hoping it grows on me.

EDIT: Yeah, it has seriously grown on me. Been listening to it on repeat while playing ESO tonight, probably ran through it half a dozen times. This album is fantastic.

#METALMONDAY

Come for the riffs, stay for the raw, emotional vocals. Like a lot of longer songs in the doom genre, this one takes a while to get going. But be sure not to leave before the tonal shift at 4:43. This is "Torn" for metalheads. I can't stress enough how amazing and unexpected Patrick Walker's vocals are.

Song: Footprints
Artist: Warning
Album: Watching from a Distance (2006)
Genre: Doom Metal

"I leave behind me the ruins
Of the fortress I swore to defend
I leave behind me foundations,
I'll leave you a man I'll need you to mend"

Skinypupy wrote: ↑Fri Jun 01, 2018 2:06 pm On first listen, I'm really underwhelmed and disappointed by the new Ghost album that came out today. The whole thing just feels so boring and safe. "Rats" and "Faith" are the only two songs that really stood out.

Hoping it grows on me.

EDIT: Yeah, it has seriously grown on me. Been listening to it on repeat while playing ESO tonight, probably ran through it half a dozen times. This album is fantastic.

I wish I could stand satanic themes, even in jest. I've heard such amazing things about this band, and tales of their theatrics sound incredibly fun. I don't mind some anti-religious themes in my metal because religion/the church has been so destructive throughout history. (And like punk before it, metal is intrinsically anti-establishment.) But even as a more progressive (and piss-poor) Christian I find satanic and blatantly anti-Christ themes and lyrics impossible to stomach. Even some of the Christian metal acts bother me with their violently anti-Satan/evil lyrics and glorification of the Old Testament "God the destroyer".

You might want to give Prequelle a listen then, as this album is their least "evil" by a wide margin. Most of it is about the black plague in medieval Europe, rather than about glorifying Satan (as on previous albums).

"Faith" is probably my favorite song on the album. That riff...



I probably listened to this album 20 times while playing ESO this weekend. It's truly awesome.

Your impressions were pretty much mine as well. First listen to was, ugh.

But I've played it a few times as well and it's an album that grows on you for sure.

And yes, the anti religious themes are relatively minor on the album.

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Skinypupy wrote: ↑Mon Jun 04, 2018 8:05 am You might want to give Prequelle a listen then, as this album is their least "evil" by a wide margin. Most of it is about the black plague in medieval Europe, rather than about glorifying Satan (as on previous albums).

"Faith" is probably my favorite song on the album. That riff...

Holy crap, yeah. That riff is awesome. From these two tracks, I can tell why these guys have so much mainstream appeal. Extremely melodic yet heavy, crunchy riffs. I love the organ and harpsichord bits. And wow, Miasma. Especially once the sax hits?

I'm late for today's #METALMONDAY. Blame Delta airlines

Caladan Brood (from SLC!) did a wonderful concept album in 2014 that was based on Stephen Erikson's "Malazan Book of the Fallen" series of fantasy novels. While I never did warm to the books, this folk/black metal album is really fantastic.

Skinypupy wrote:You might want to give Prequelle a listen then, as this album is their least "evil" by a wide margin. Most of it is about the black plague in medieval Europe, rather than about glorifying Satan (as on previous albums).

"Faith" is probably my favorite song on the album. That riff...



I probably listened to this album 20 times while playing ESO this weekend. It's truly awesome.

This is a fantastic album. Been listening to it the past two days and I love it.

Got an 80's vibe and really catchy tunes.

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Dont miss this one. I still think that video is early early 70s. The hair, the collars, her shorts, and that dance.

#METALMONDAY

Usually I run screaming from anything labelled "metalcore", as in general the punk aesthetic doesn't appeal to me. But this unofficially defunct Chattanooga band has some of my favourite guitars and drumming in the genre. It's usually a challenge for me to get all the way through this album, as tracks three and four are so good I just listen to them on repeat. It was impossible to decide which to include here, so if you dig this I strongly recommend you try "Bending Space and Time", as well.

Song: Heir To The Viking Throne
Artist: With Faith or Flames
Album: A Conquest Triumphant (2008)
Genre: Metalcore, Melodic Death Metal

"Speaker of light, bringer of pain
Deceiver, embodiment of shadows
Entrusted with power
A worshiper of war
Fabricator, false witness to prophecy
Of an end to an unwinnable war"

Pretty sure this is a Bush allusion given the date of the recording, but really it could apply to any recent administration (or be taken literally, as a historical reference).

Skinypupy wrote: ↑Mon Jun 04, 2018 4:49 pm I'm late for today's #METALMONDAY. Blame Delta airlines

Caladan Brood (from SLC!) did a wonderful concept album in 2014 that was based on Stephen Erikson's "Malazan Book of the Fallen" series of fantasy novels. While I never did warm to the books, this folk/black metal album is really fantastic.

Love it! Disappointed it's not on Spotify.

LordMortis alert: the new Lord Huron is by far their most interesting, to my ears.

The Devil Makes Three "A Moment's Rest" from I'm a Stranger Here

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKTKlXsBZkc

Its about haunting regret. Or addiction. Or crushing depression.

"I can go back where I came from but I ain't ever going home"

#METAL...uh...TUESDAY Delta airlines gets the blame again this week.

I'm mostly listening to myself crying because Ghost announced another NA tour...and are again skipping both Salt Lake and Denver.

In the meantime, I'm listening to the new album from Tomb Mold. As the name suggests, it is some flat-out nasty, filthy death metal.

#METALMONDAY

I am utterly and completely fascinated with Zeal & Ardor. They manage to take two musical genres that are literally continents apart - Norwegian black metal and African slave spirituals - and combine them into something that is nothing short of brilliant. There's no possible way this should work (the whole project was apparently started on a "bet you can't do this" internet dare), but it absolutely does. Their new album dropped this month, and has been on near constant repeat for me.

If you're in the mood for something a little different, be sure to give this a listen. And don't let the bouncy intros fool you...both these songs will rip your goddamn face off. "Row Row" is my favorite song so far this year, by a mile.

"We are the best of the bastards...AND SLAVES TO NONE!!"





Side note: June may be one of the best metal months in years. The new Amorphis would be an album of the year contender in any other time, but it's probably only the 3rd or 4th best album...this month. Ghost and Z&A are both incredible, and the new Khemmis (which is getting massively positive reviews) hits this week as well.

Probably because of the newly released single mentioned upstream, I've been re-listening to their older stuff and I forgot how much I loved the Camper Velourium trilogy on their second album, In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3

Anyway, it's really the second song in the trilogy that's blowing me away:



and it's mainly the ending, directly linked here.

I wish I understood music from a technical standpoint. I know there are breakdown videos online where someone goes into the structure of the arrangement, how things come together in unexpected or technically impressive ways...and I am always amazed to see that type of deconstruction. For me, I just know what sounds good (which I get, is subjective) but there's something going on here - vocal doubling, rising harmonies, the staccato machine-gun kick of the bass drum, the snare triplet fills (?) -- I don't know exactly what it is, but it's marvelous when they come together, particularly with the lyrics and the story the these three songs relate.

Also, I can't believe this is 15 years old now. Where the hell has the time gone??!

For those jazz fans out there John Coltrane's lost album is set to release on the 29th.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/07/arts ... -once.html

Lost John Coltrane Recording From 1963 Will Be Released at Last

“Both Directions at Once: The Lost Album” was cut by the saxophonist’s classic quartet two years before “A Love Supreme.” Then it was stashed away.

Khemmis, Desolation

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Xmann wrote: ↑Sat Jun 23, 2018 12:34 am Khemmis, Desolation

Same. It's fantastic.

Meh. Pace is slow.

They’re a doom metal band. Slow is kinda the point.

I was also drunk.